Return of the Lady of the sun
by Lord PotterXXVII
Summary: After losing Susan, Caspian is left heartbroken. however Aslan tells him that two years later she is due to return. The Kings and Queens return after the train crash, giving the two lovers a chance at life together.
1. Prologue

-1The return of the lady of the sun

Standard disclaimer: I am not C.S Lewis, I don't own anything except my invented characters and this story and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

Rating: Teen for now, but may increase to mature in later chapters depending on the direction the story goes.

Warnings: Occasional bad language, Action violence, fluff, possibly smut in later chapters if enough people ask for it, also spoilers for the film in this prologue.

Category: AU, prince Caspian movie verse, Suspian

Summary: after the train crash the Pevensies go to Narnia to live out their lives before going to Aslan's country but they also get sent through time to approximately two years Narnian time after the events of prince Caspian the movie. Susan and Caspian are reunited and rule Narnia and Telmar together along with the other kings and queens. Will follow Susan and Caspian but the others will get story time.

Prologue:

King Caspian watched sadly as the figure of Queen Susan the gentle vanished into the portal that Aslan had created to send the kings and queens of old home. He could still taste her from their brief kiss, and could still smell her perfume, the scent of vanilla quite strong amongst it's components that still lingered in his nose. As he remembered her saying the fateful line, "It never would have worked anyway, I am thirteen hundred years older than you." it made him mentally want to scream "Narnian years! Narnian years! And even so I don't care!" but he held his tongue and watched her slender figure looking adorable in her pale blue gown walk into the portal and disappear. As she did tears began to fall silently from his eyes. Aslan walked over to him and said, "do not worry, I have seen that you will see her again. She shall return to you in time, you shall reign well as High king and queen." Caspian looked at him hopefully and replied, " do you see when this will happen?" Aslan smiled, "Yes, two years from today, Queen Susan shall once again be in your arms." Caspian had a hopeful look on his face as he dismissed the crowd who had assembled and began to make his way back to his new castle.

Meanwhile:

The four Pevensies made their way along the platform in the underground station where they appeared after they left Narnia. The school uniforms they wore looking very different to the regal outfits they had just been wearing. Susan felt sad for leaving as she remembered she'd never return, and she remembered Caspian, the young man whom Aslan had forced her to leave behind. Something of her sadness must have shown on her face as Peter smiled at her and his expression seemed to convey the message, "don't worry Su, he'll be okay, you both will." they walked in silence until they heard a voice say, "aren't you coming Phyllis?" Susan recognized the geeky boy from before they entered Narnia and looked away, they all got onto the train, Edmund then said, "You don't suppose there's anyway we could get back do you? Only I've left my new torch in Narnia." they all laughed and sat down as the train began to move.


	2. The Cleansing

-1The return of the lady of the sun

Standard disclaimer: I am not C.S Lewis, I don't own anything except my invented characters and this story and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

Authors note: Sorry the prologue was so short, it was only designed to set up the scenario for the story, this should be a bit longer.

Chapter 1: The Cleansing

King Caspian sat in his throne in the council chamber. The meeting had been called to enact new laws and directives for the future, several new faces were there, mostly sons of the Lords who were killed by Miraz before the revolution. the treaty of Beruna had been signed yesterday one week after the departure of the Kings and Queens between himself and the new Narnian ambassador, a centaur named Mangorian. It would give control of most of Narnia back to the Narnians, except the areas where the Telmarines had built towns, and Aslan's How and Cair Pavarel were to be rebuilt together as a joint effort between Telmar and Narnia as would be a permanent bridge at Beruna, and statues of the kings and queens were to be erected in the capital city, in the very plaza where they had last been as a gift from Narnia. Diplomatic relations and trade laws were to be slowly negotiated in future meetings. One of the council lords, a younger man named Manuel Parma spoke up, "your majesty what is your wish regarding the directives of the treaty?" Caspian looked at Lord Parma and said, "my lord, I wish for the repairs to the How and the reconstructions effort at Cair Pavarel to begin as early as possible. I wish to allocate soldiers to assist the craftsmen and artisans with the work. I ask all of you to contribute men, as shall I." the lords all nodded, another, who was one of the lords working with Miraz said, "shall their be repercussions for those involved with Lord Miraz your majesty?" Caspian looked at him and said, "no, not for those who were only obeying orders for fear of their lives or position. Willing collaborators will be put on trial but the trials will be fair and any punishment will relate to the level of involvement, I will call an inquiry once these treaty directives are enacted and the work is well underway." the Lord who posed the question looked relieved and said, "as you desire sire." another younger lord called Juan Grozelle who was a nephew of the general who had gone to the world of the Kings and Queens began to speak, "Is his majesty planning on holding any balls? We notice his majesty has not yet taken a Queen." Caspian looked slightly angrily at the young lord and said, "my heart was forfeit when Queen Susan left Narnia, however with regard to my own marriage. Aslan has spoken to me, he has informed me that the Kings and Queens of old will return again in two years time. This time they will stay permanently. I intend to ask for Queen Susan's hand when she does return." the Lords all looked stunned but not displeased at the words, Caspian dismissed them when the last order of business had been dealt with and went down to the great hall for lunch.

He walked the gardens of his castle for awhile afterwards, he'd always loved them as a boy the flowers and shrubs creating such beauty as to be unmatched by anything he'd seen, that is until he had met Susan. The gentle woman he'd met who'd been nothing like the way the history books had painted her. They'd said she has always the one who did the royal duties while the others had fun or had always been the one in the background of Peter. Instead he'd seen a woman who was quite assertive at times, was unmatched in her skill with a bow and was as beautiful as she was intelligent. He sighed when he remembered lord Grozelle trying to marry him off.

Professor Cornelius walked over to him, "you look troubled your majesty." Caspian turned around and said, "yes, by several things, firstly all this trouble the revolution caused that has to be dealt with and factored into a society that viewed Narnians as vermin for an age. Secondly because the Lords of the council want to marry me off. How they expect me to fall in love so soon after losing Susan?" Cornelius replied, "the change will be hard, but it will pass the trouble from the war shall take time to mend but will be mend in the end. As for the council Lords, they see a possible path to the throne if you marry a daughter of theirs. I know of Aslan's prediction, I suggest you tell the Lords. That will stop them from trying to marry you off." Caspian smiled slightly and said, "thank you professor, it's not easy being king," the older man smiled and said, "nothing truly important is ever easy my king." feeling slightly better Caspian left and went to draft his decrees to send to the Lords and the craftsmen with regard to the decisions made at the council session.

A few days later king Caspian rode to Cair Pavarel with several members of his elite guard and inspected the site. Hundreds of Telmarines and Narnians were as busy as bees, clearing out the vegetation that had grown wild since the palaces destruction and clearing out the loose rubble. Hundreds more were moving in piles of wood and stone to start rebuilding, he strolled among the ruins and work teams wondering what it must have looked like before the invasion and hoped he'd have it restored to a state as good as, if not better than before. He intended to have it restored to at least a liveable state by the time of the return of the Kings and Queens and have them help with the final stages of the restoration. He judged the efforts to be going well, turning to Trumpkin and Reepicheep the captains of his personal guard he said, "I hope the Narnians will in time will learn to forgive the Telmarines for our crimes. Hopefully the restoration of this palace and the How will serve as a starting point. If I do marry Queen Susan, that will also hopefully give cause for greater unity between Telmar and Narnia." the dwarf and the mouse looked up at the king and Reepicheep replied, "It will take time sire, but trust will build, a marriage to Queen Susan will definitely help unity develop as you say," Trumpkin then added, "a lot of people will never trust the Telmarines or Narnians but in time the majority ought to, especially once the Kings and Queens return, treat Susan well though, or Reepicheep's friends will get you where you least want them too," Caspian blanched at the thought and faced the mouse, "that's the last thing I want. I promise you won't need to make them do that. Although Peter and Edmund should give me this talk by rights." Reepicheep laughed and put his serious face on, "Trumpkin goes too far, in that case I'd let Peter and Edmund get you, I'd wait til after they had gotten a hold of you." they finished the inspection and over the next few days made their way back to the Telmarine capital city checking the work on the new bridge at Beruna on the way, which was going well, it was to be named Queen Lucy's crossing after the valiant girl who had brought about the destruction of the old army built bridge. Caspian felt hopeful as they arrived back at his castle but still also felt his usual heartache at the absence of his beloved Susan, he fell asleep, dreaming first of the day she left and then possibilities of her return, how she'd react to his work? What circumstances brought her back? The next morning he woke beginning his next act in the cleansing of his realm, bringing the collaborators working with Miraz to justice.

One month later the inquiry was nearly finished. Almost all the old Lords had merely been following orders and were quickly cleared as the lawyers and clerks spent weeks examining the evidence that had been assembled. Caspian felt relieved, he didn't want to have to have any of the Lords killed if it could be helped. They all knew the workings of the country and not all of them had sons old enough to replace them if the event of any executions. However unfortunately today at the last trial Lord Anvard was looking likely to be found guilty of treason as the prosecution lawyers had found him to have been a co conspirator of Miraz's who had been promised the job of Lord Chamberlain if Miraz had won the war. The jury filed into the court room and the foreman addressed Caspian and the judge, "your majesty, and your honour we have reached our verdict, we find the defendant, Lord Anvard, guilty of the crime of treason against the crown," Caspian and the judge nodded solemnly, Caspian turned to the judge and whispered, "as much as I don't want to do this, there is only one punishment fit for him. However, I won't have him subject to too cruel an end, for his remorse give him a swift death and a decent burial, and spare his family any punishment." the judge acknowledged Caspian and put his black cap on. "Lord Anvard, you have been found guilty of treason. However due to your remorse and the Kings mercy, you will not be subject to a drawn out death, you are sentenced to death by beheading at sundown tomorrow. Your family is spared any further penalties and your son will inherit your place in the council. Long live the King," Caspian signed the death warrant and the judge dismissed the court. The next day Caspian stood in his castle courtyard overlooking the scene, the whole city had turned out to witness the execution. The officiator read the list of crimes out to the city and the black hooded executioner bade Lord Anvard to kneel over the block. Caspian addressed Lord Anvard, "my Lord, I didn't want to do this and I do not wish to cause unnecessary suffering to your family, you only die because of your level of involvement. I hope you are the last Lord to be executed, if you have any last words, please speak now." Lord Anvard replied, "I am sorry sire, I accept responsibility for my actions, I was tempted by Lord Miraz's offer. I bare no hard feeling and hope my son serves you well in my place, at least give me a clean death." he bent his head over the block and a drum roll began, The executioner raised his sword, Caspian raised his arm, and then brought it down as the drum roll stopped and the sword fell. Caspian addressed the crowd once the corpse had been put into it's coffin and taken away, "may he find peace in Aslan's country for eternity, he showed remorse for his actions but was still a traitor, may his death be the last and now let us share in the days of peace and together rebuild our land and our lives." the crowd cheered and began to move off. Caspian hoped he'd seen his last execution and he couldn't help but whisper softly, "Aslan forgive me, I had no choice." he walked inside and went to have dinner, afterwards he had a bath and then went to bed, hoping the rest of his reign would be more pleasant and involve less death. The next morning he read a report from the construction teams, that the site of Cair Pavarel had been cleared of vegetation and rubble and that rebuilding could now begin and that the work at Lucy's crossing was on schedule, and lastly that the repairs at Aslan's How were also proceeding well. Caspian felt optimistic and hoped the work would be done in time as he realised he had only a little over twenty two months to go until the return of the Kings and Queens and he wanted to have Cair Pavarel ready for them all, especially Susan, as he had always wanted to marry her there and hoped she would agree when the time came.


	3. Trying to Adjust

The return of the lady of the sun

Standard disclaimer: I am not C.S Lewis, I don't own anything except my invented characters and this story and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

Authors note: _If your wondering why I put in a trial, I'd imagine that would be the first thing Caspian would do, who could rule a country with a potential assassin in your own ranks. This chapter starts by following the Pevensies, mainly Susan from where they got on the train at the end of the prologue with an unusual twist added in for the main body for good measure. Also I'm not English, I don't know if there is a tube station at Finchley, for the purposes of the story I'm guessing there is. Lastly thank you for the good reviews and advice you're giving me. I hope you like this chapter as much as the last two._

Chapter 2: Trying to adjust

The four Pevensies got off the underground at Finchley and made their way home, all were silent, each lost in their own thoughts. Thoughts of Narnia, and the events of the last month, wondering how things were going now that the revolution had been won. They opened the front door and made their way inside, putting their bags on the stand in the hall they sat down in the living room. Edmund spoke up, "so what happens now?" Peter looked at his brother and said, "we have to learn to accept the fact we live here Ed." Lucy added, "that's what we tried last time and we went back." Susan gave a sniff and replied, "you might get to go back Lu, at least you and Ed might see it again before we all go to Aslan's country." Peter gaze her a reassuring squeeze and said, "cheer up Su, we almost managed this last time, plus he'll be ok. Anyway, when we get to Aslan's country, you'll have all eternity with him." Susan nodded but still felt slightly upset, their mother came home at this point which put all conversation about Narnia on hold, as they went through the usual routine of dinner and homework, it felt so strange, after a month fighting a war to be doing homework, the essays and maths problems felt so trivial compared to fighting for Caspian's throne. Nevertheless they got their work done and all went to bed.

Over the next few months they tried to adjust with varying levels of success, Edmund and Lucy were doing the best as they held hope of returning and fell back into routine fairly quickly, Peter was doing ok but still got into the occasional fist fight, however Susan was doing the worst, the loss of Caspian still hurt her, though she tried not to let it show. She'd picked up the nickname, the ice maiden for not taking a boyfriend even though most of the girls in her year had one. None of the boys even came close to Caspian in looks or emotional maturity she thought, but she did feel lonely at times, Lucy and the others did their best to help her when it got to her.

One day there was a notice pinned up at her school advertising the end of year dance in a few days time, she read it feeling slightly depressed at the thought, she had to go she realised, if she wanted to improve her reputation but she wouldn't enjoy it. A friend of hers named Narcissa Anderson walked over and said, "are you going Susan?" Susan looked over and said, "I guess so, none of the boys are particularly mature or handsome, but I guess I'll go." Narcissa looked at her strangely and replied, "you are too picky Su, what about that Cedric Peterson? Handsome, best rugby player around and rich family." Susan's eyes narrowed slightly at the thought of the boy in question who was tall, blonde and muscular and replied, "he's an arrogant git, he's been through half our year and thinks he can have any girl he wants because he's so good at sport and has rich parents. I want someone more mature emotionally."

Narcissa nodded at this and said, "yeah, your probably right, still everyone at the boys school that's our age will be there, maybe you can find one who meets your standards." Susan smiled slightly and said, "I hope so, but I doubt it."

Meanwhile back in Narnia, the day of the return was fast approaching, Aslan was talking to King Caspian in a garden at Cair Pavarel which had been planted as the castle was being rebuilt, the lion spoke up, "your majesty, I have a special task you must perform, in England, the homeland of the Kings and Queens, Queen Susan and King Peter are planning on attending a local dance, I sense danger for them both, therefore I will send you in disguise to help them out of the danger." Caspian looked uneasily at Aslan and asked, "will I be able to reveal myself to the Kings and Queens? Also, what form of danger threatens them?" Aslan looked at the young King and said, "If you get enough time alone, you can tell them, if not, no. As for the danger, a fight will break out, at the party, you must get Susan and Peter out. I will arrange passage through, you will stay at your Aunt's house, she has married General Grozelle, I will let him know your coming and arrange a cover story for you. The kingdom will be informed you are taking a short holiday." Caspian nodded, so Aslan quickly created a portal through a tree, similar to the one in the plaza at the Telmarine capital city and Caspian stepped into the unknown.

The dance was to be a masked fancy dress party, so Caspian wore an outfit similar to his usual royal clothes and his crown, he also had a sword hidden amongst his outfit in case the fight was really nasty. He had written a note for Susan to explain himself, in case he couldn't tell her personally, which he planned to put in her coat along with a gift he'd brought if he had to use it. His mask was similar to the face of his dead Uncles helm from his duel against Peter, and his Aunt and General, now Uncle Grozelle had been only too pleased to help him plan his rescue mission. He'd been given the name Caspian Grozelle, and was supposedly moved to England after his parents were killed in Spain, paperwork supporting this and arrangements for the school had been written and given to the authorities and a ticket to the dance had been obtained. His plan was to get Susan and Peter out in the melee and call his Uncle, who worked for the local police force as a deputy chief inspector, he'd then send a car along with the police who'd raid the party.

He went over the plan again as he walked into the hall that had been hired for the event slightly early.

He walked over to a desk and the teacher behind the desk said, "ticket please," so Caspian handed it over, the teacher checked it against a list and said, "in you go, that's a lovely costume, Caspian, enjoy yourself, show our boys how well you Spanish can dance." Caspian nodded and replied, "I hope I can live up to everyone's expectations, everything in this country is so different," as he walked into the hall and started looking for Susan and Peter or any source of the upcoming fight. More people started showing up, boys and girls of around Caspian's own age, the different costumes varied, some Caspian could appreciate others he couldn't. some of the guests spoke to him and he replied and was a friendly as he could be without knowing anybody. He danced a few songs with a few different girls and all commented on how good a dancer he was. A tall girl in a forest green coloured gown with a matching mask and a silver tiara caught his eyes a while later as he walked around during a break in the music, and he went over for a closer look. She had long dark brown hair which had been curled slightly and she looked familiar despite the mask. Most of the other girls had gravitated to specific boys but this girl hadn't, which made her stand out slightly to Caspian. He stopped about a metre away and she spoke, her voice giving Caspian the last clue he needed, though he thought he'd better act natural for now. "That's a very good costume, you look quite regal. That's a much better effort than a lot of the other boys." Caspian replied to the girl he guessed was Susan, "thank you my lady, you look quite beautiful, I haven't seen all the ladies yet but your gown and mask make you look wonderful, like a Queen." Susan said in reply, "your accent, your not from around here are you?"

Caspian nodded and said, "Indeed not my lady, I come from Spain, my family were English citizens who moved there for business, they were killed recently and I was sent here to London to live with my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. I only got here a short time ago, so my Uncle arranged tickets to this dance so I could meet people my own age here." Susan replied, "I am sorry to hear that, I hope you enjoy yourself. I never introduced myself, I am Susan, Susan Pevensie." Caspian extended a hand and replied, "pleased to meet you Susan, I am Caspian, Caspian Grozelle," Susan shook his hand but before she could say anything a boy his own age, wearing a similar outfit to his came up, "How are you going Su? I see you found some company," Susan said to the boy who Caspian guessed was King Peter, "Peter, this is Caspian Grozelle, he just moved here from Spain, I only just met him, but he's polite and he's got a good costume." Peter extended his hand to Caspian, "Pleased to meet you Caspian, I'm Peter Pevensie I hope you enjoy yourself, do anything to hurt Susan though and your dead meat." Susan looked slightly apologetically at Caspian and said, "Sorry about him, he's just being protective." Caspian replied, "don't worry, I've met people like him, I can understand his motives, he just wants you to be happy and the boys to treat you with the proper respect and politeness you deserve. I will not do anything likely to cause any offence anyway, I promise. Now, Susan, the music is starting again, may I have this dance?" Susan said, "alright, since you asked so politely."

So Caspian offered Susan his arm and led her out, just as the band began to play a waltz. Caspian knew how to dance, he'd been trained since he was a small boy so he had no trouble as he took Susan's waist and hand and began to move to the music, she commented in a slightly awed voice a few songs later as they danced, "where'd you . learn to dance so well Caspian?" Caspian smiled and replied, "I was taught from a young age, balls are a good place to meet ladies and one must be able to hold ones own in a dance to help forge a good reputation. Dancing is one of those things like riding a horse, once you know how, you never forget. You dance exceptionally well yourself Susan, I haven't had as good a partner in years." Susan looked at him and replied, "I'm not that great, I've only been to one or two balls in recent times." they finished the song and went to get drinks, they sat down and watched the others as they sipped champagne and ate some food from platters that were being passed around, Caspian could see King Peter dancing with a red haired lady about the same height as him dressed in a pale gold outfit. He said to Susan, "your brother looks like he's been to a few balls." Susan replied, "oh yes, he's well known among the girls for it, he'd better be careful though, that's Verity Thomas, a lot of the jocks have a crush on her, but she won't touch them, they'll be really jealous of him, especially Cedric Peterson when they see." Caspian could see how the fight would start now. It'd start with this Cedric trying to attack King Peter and it would turn into an all in melee. Caspian listened as the band said they were taking requests and he told Susan he was going to put one in. He whispered his request to the band and made his way back to Susan. A few minutes later he spoke to her as he helped her up and led her back out to the dance floor, "I asked them for my personal favourite from home, I wonder how many people here will know the steps?" The band began to play a Tango, and Caspian was unsurprised that Susan knew the steps, he noticed that he and Susan and Peter and Verity were the only two couples dancing. After the song finished they left the dance floor again, but before they could go far a blonde boy walked over to Peter, "Where do you think your going Pevensie, I saw her first, go get your own girl." the girl called Verity spoke angrily to the blonde boy, "I would touch you, if you were the last man in London, Peterson, you arrogant git, Peter was being an absolute gentleman." Caspian could see where this was going so he whispered in Susan's ear, "I do not like the look of this, if a fight breaks out, we'd better try and get Peter and Verity out, my Uncles a policeman, If we can get them here, they can break up the fight." Susan relied, "good idea, you seem as smart as you are handsome."

Friends of both sides of the argument had begun to gather, Peter heard Cedric growl, "fuck you Pevensie, take this for stealing my girl." he swung a right hook, but Peter dodged it and instead the punch meant for Peter hit a boy next to him who shouted angrily, "what'd I do, you poncy bastard? Eat this!"

He sent a much better aimed punch back at Cedric which hit his nose causing blood to flow copiously. The fight turned into an all in brawl, stools flying everywhere and punches being thrown. Caspian fought his way through the throng and grabbed Peter, "Peter, let's go, this is crazy, we'll be killed if we stay in here, get Verity and lets go. I'll get Susan." he nodded and grabbed his frightened looking companion and together they pushed and shoved their way through the melee, Caspian grabbing Susan as they passed. They escaped through a broken window and Caspian found a phone booth that had been pointed out by General Grozelle, remembering his Uncles instructions on how to use it he put some coins into the slot in the phone and dialled the number for his Uncles office, he waited for his Uncles voice and said, "General, hurry, the fight has begun, Susan and Peter are safe, as is Peters companion. Get us out of here quickly and call in your men." he put the phone down and said to the others, "my Uncles a policeman, he left me a number to call him directly in case of an emergency. He's sending a car for us along with a group of officers to deal with the fight." they moved back as a table came crashing through a window near them and thudded into the ground. A few minutes later sirens came ringing out, Caspian was not used to the noise and jumped slightly, but it wasn't noticed as the others all did the same, several cars and a van pulled up, and at least twenty men in blue uniforms and oddly shaped hats went into the hall bearing truncheons. Another car pulled up near them and General Grozelle called out, "Caspian! Get the others and get in quickly." Caspian did as instructed and the car pulled away, they dropped Verity off first as she lived close by, as they approached the Pevensie's house Susan spoke, "thank you Caspian, if it wasn't for you, Peter and I could have been hurt, come visit us, we must try and repay the favour." Peter nodded at his sisters words and added, "thanks for being such a gentleman for Susan, she had to leave a boyfriend behind when we went travelling recently, but you helped her a lot tonight." Caspian replied, "it was my pleasure, I too recently lost love, I fell in love not long before I had to come to England with an Englishwoman who helped me out with some family trouble along with her sister and two brothers but she had to leave in a hurry to return home after we had succeeded and we lost contact, Susan helped me as much as I helped her." The Pevensies got out and went inside their house and General Grozelle drove Caspian back to his house, Caspian taking his mask off as they left the Pevensies behind. As they got out of the car the former general spoke, "well done your majesty, you did brilliantly, you can go back now. Aslan will be very pleased with your efforts, take these books with you, when you marry Queen Susan you can get Cornelius to show them to your children, if you don't do it yourself." Caspian smiled and picked up the books, which were all about different things, some works of fiction by various authors, others books about various real topics and an atlas showing the different countries. He then stepped into the portal where he found Aslan on the other side, "well done your majesty, you did everything you needed to and more. Soon the Kings and Queens shall return. I will return to explain things to them when they do come. But for now good bye." at this the great lion turned and left. Caspian walked towards his suite at Cair Pavarel feeling very happy for his achievements, he felt a little disappointed that he didn't get to kiss Queen Susan again, but he realised the would have years to do that when she came back, he also hoped she'd find the note, which he'd slipped into her coat pocket along with a sapphire necklace.

Sure enough, as Caspian was falling asleep, Susan found the note and necklace in her pocket as she was walking up to her room, gasping in shock at the necklace she turned to the note, opening it quickly she read it's contents.

_My dearest Susan_

_If you are reading this note, then I couldn't explain my presence truthfully as I had planned to, most likely due to the fight breaking out sooner than I expected. Aslan himself sent me to help you and King Peter escape from the fight as he sensed you would be in terrible danger. I was hoping to tell you this myself, but there were too many people around, who would never believe me if I had to tell them as well, So Aslan created a cover story for me and arranged my attendance of the ball with the help of General Grozelle. It is a shame we couldn't spend more time together again but, soon we shall be reunited. Aslan has informed me that you, your sister and brothers will return soon and will stay permanently, he didn't say how, only when. I look forward to that day and hope you like all that I have done in your absence. I look forward to showing it to you. I hope you like the gift, it is an heirloom of my family, it once belonged to my mother, I thought you would like it as the sapphires remind me so much of your eyes._

Love always

Caspian X

PS, I found your world very interesting and brought a few books home with me so I could learn more about it.

Susan smiled and blushed as she read the message, putting the necklace on, she hurried along the hall to Peters room and knocked. Peter said, "come in Su," so she opened the door and went inside. She quickly passed the note to Peter who quickly read it, "I can't believe I didn't guess it was him, the mask was part of Lord Miraz's helm and that crown looked familiar. Also, he wore that outfit so well, nobody else could pull that look off so well. But I thought we'd never go back, at least Aslan will explain. I didn't need to read the mushy bits though Su, I didn't think he was such a romantic." Susan replied, "you'd be surprised, I wonder what he's done that he wants me to see? You'd better not butt in too much, I'll have to thank him properly when we get there, and not just for saving us. This was his mothers, it must be very special." she showed Peter the necklace, and he gasped in shock as he examined it. The necklace had the royal crest of Telmar etched into a central sapphire which has set in a gold mounting. "wow! that's incredible, no, I won't butt in. Just don't go overboard." Susan smiled and hugged him. Letting him go after a moment, she bade him goodnight, left and went back to her room. She felt happier than she'd been in months as she changed into a nightdress and got into bed.


	4. The Return to Narnia

The return of the lady of the sun

Standard disclaimer: I am not C.S Lewis, I don't own anything except my invented characters and this story and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

_Authors note: Thanks again for all your reviews and advice, I know I can't please everyone with this story, but to respond to the criticisms Susan didn't recognize Caspian for who he really was for a few reasons: One she thought she'd never see him again, two while Caspian isn't a common name, there's got to be a few people with it somewhere and three it was a fancy dress party with masks. but there's enough stories out there for everyone to find exactly what they want if they don't like mine. As for Caspian's dialogue this is my first fanfic so I'm just writing it the way I think he'd speak in the circumstances, he is a King so he should speak regally. I noticed that several people have added this story to their favourites list and update alerts. I hoped you enjoyed the ball scene and the fight, It was my way of paying homage to all the Caspian dies in Narnia and comes to Earth fics, I really love the fic where the Nazi's summon him and he's rescued by Susan's dad and his unit and I thought Caspian coming to help the Pevensies on Earth and then going back would help make my story stand out a bit as I haven't seen that done yet. Don't worry I will add a better dance scene or two with no jocks spoiling it later on. I hope you like this chapter as much as the previous ones. I've decided to keep Verity as a permanent character and future bride for Peter, her travel to and presence in Narnia will be explained in this chapter. Lastly I'm not sure of the real Earth time, but for the purposes of the story I'm guessing It's before June 1944 and the Nazi's are still sending flying bombs from northern France, 'Doodlebug' was an English nickname for them. Lastly sorry about the glitch in the last chapter that caused it all to be underlined, I'll try not to let that happen again, I don't know what caused it._

Chapter 3: The Return To Narnia

Next morning, Susan woke up feeling happier and better rested than she'd been in months, at first she couldn't remember why, but then she found the note and necklace on her bedside table. Caspian, he'd come to save her, and not just from the fight, she felt so lonely without him, his gentle caring nature and zealous desire to protect her from danger. It also helped that he was more handsome than any other man she'd met. She felt even happier when she re read how she'd return to Narnia, since she'd got back for the second time she'd never really recovered. She put her dressing gown and slippers on as well as the necklace, and put Caspian's note in her pocket, then went downstairs for breakfast. She found Lucy and Edmund already sitting at the table eating. She pulled a chair out next to Lucy and sat down taking some toast from a stack on the table and pouring herself some tea from a pot. Lucy looked at her and said, "you look happy Su, I guess the ball went well. Funny though, the newspaper says the bobbies had to raid it because of a massive fight."

Susan replied, "yes there was a fight, that Cedric Peterson tried to hit Peter for dancing with Verity Thomas, missed and hit someone else, they fought back and an all in brawl started. Caspian saved Peter and I though and got us out and called the police, take a look at this note he left."

She passed Lucy the note. She squealed in delight when she read how they were going back and said, "that's lovely, I wonder when we're going, he writes cute love notes Su, I didn't think he was the type."

Edmund gagged slightly at the last comment and Lucy hit him playfully on the arm and said, "grow up Ed, if you're going to be like this every time Caspian feels romantic about Susan, Su and I are going to tease you so badly when you find yourself a girl." Susan smiled at Lucy and said, "she's right Ed, we will, and Peter will be worse than us. Caspian saved him and Verity as well."

Peter came in at this point and started getting himself breakfast, but before he could comment on his sisters threat their mother came in. "Morning, dears, how was the ball Susan?"

Susan replied, "It was going wonderfully until that Cedric Peterson started a fight because Peter was dancing with Verity Thomas. A nice new boy called Caspian who was with me at the time helped Peter, Verity and I to escape the resulting fight and he called the police who came and broke the fight up and drove us all home."

Helen promptly replied, "well that was very good of him Susan, he sounds like a nice boy, I hope you both thanked him."

Peter said, "we did mum, he was an absolute gentleman to Susan for the whole party once they met, and he saved us from a very nasty fight, it needed twenty bobbies to break it up in the end according to the paper."

Helen then said, "I have good news, Professor Kirke has agreed to let you visit for this summer, I've got you all train tickets for tomorrow."

they all looked happy as they realised the wardrobe could be their means of getting back into Narnia.

Peter spoke again, "ok mum, sounds good to us, we'll get packed later." so they did.

Next day they got on the train and found an empty compartment, Peter got a pleasant surprise as Verity Thomas came in just as they stowed their luggage and sat down as the train moved off, she smiled at Peter and said, "hi Peter, hi Susan, where are you all going?"

Peter replied, "hi Verity, we're all off to stay with a friend of our families named Professor Kirke for the summer."

Verity replied, "oh, ok then. I'm off to stay with my grandparents, I think they know Professor Kirke, their house isn't far from his I've seen it once or twice. Are these your younger Brother and Sister?"

She asked, gesturing to Lucy and Edmund who were looking curiously at Verity. Peter said, "yes this is Lucy and Edmund,"

Gesturing to each in turn who smiled at her and shook hands. The train moved along carrying them out of London and into the English countryside.

Unfortunately, meanwhile a squad of Nazi's had just launched a group of V1 flying bombs towards London from a base in occupied France. One had a defective guidance unit and began to deviate from it's intended course shortly after launch.

At around midday the train was entering a hilly area with several sharp bends in the track when Peter looked out the window. He saw a dark shape far up in the sky begin to fall. realising what it was he shouted. "DOODLEBUG! EVERYONE DOWN!"

They all screamed and tried to brace themselves. The bomb struck the side of a hill covered in rocks near the train tracks. The explosion sent a wave of shrapnel and rock splinters straight for the locomotive. Several shards of rock pierced the windscreen and one hit the driver and another the fireman. Both died instantly, the drivers body slumping onto the throttle lever sending the train to full speed. A sharp corner loomed up ahead and the train left the tracks and plunged down the side of a steep hill. When the coroners had finally finished examining the crash site and recovering bodies it was concluded there was no chance anyone could have survived. Carriages were strewn all over the acre sized field bordering that section of track and the locomotive had done a full flip once the connections to the carriages snapped and it ended up smashing through a fence and hitting a farmhouse which was a hundred metres from the track, luckily the farmer and his family weren't at home as the house was destroyed by the impact.

As the train left the tracks Peter thought he could hear the sound of a roaring lion. What he then felt as the train hit the ground was an indescribable sensation of lightness as he fell through a bright tunnel, he could see the others next to him, bright rose colored light came from all sides and he could see stars above him and darkness behind. He fell towards a bright light at the end and almost as suddenly as the sensation began he slowed down and landed softly on paving stones. He blinked and the scene came into focus. He realised where he was now, he was in the same place he'd been when he'd left Narnia for the last time. The plaza looked the same, except for the addition of several statues and an obelisk, slightly larger than life sized figures carved in white marble of himself, Lucy and Edmund had been erected where they were standing when King Caspian gave his speech about Aslan's offer and a statue of Susan stood on the exact spot where she had kissed King Caspian. All the statues had a brass plaque on the base with the name of the monarch and a short passage about them. No one was around as it was dark here, good thing too thought Peter, as he saw that all of them looked a bit worse for wear, their clothes were ripped in places and all of them had a few cuts and bruises. Aslan came up to them and Verity screamed, Peter hugged her and said.

"Don't worry he won't hurt you, this is Narnia, a land beyond our own, and that is Aslan, he's basically the guardian god of this world. He'll explain things to us and then we can go. We have been here before, but it would take too long to explain now. What Aslan doesn't tell you, I will afterwards, Caspian is the one of the Kings here."

Aslan walked over to them, "welcome back Kings and Queens of Narnia and welcome to you, Verity, I have saved you as well as I have sensed the possibilities in your future, I did not want to split you up from your friends or from Peter as your bond forged from your experiences at the dance was beginning to blossom, you will need them all to help you adjust to a new life here. What happened to you all was truly terrible, it was beyond my powers to save you all from the bomb, however I was able to bring you all here to live in peace at a tragic cost, to your own world you are dead. You shall be free to live out your lives in Narnia."

They all looked shocked at the news and Susan spoke.

"Will you be able to send word to our families that we're alright? They'll be distraught."

Aslan replied. "Yes I can, and I will. His majesty has eagerly awaited your return, all of you. He is asleep at the moment though. I bid you farewell, I shall return tomorrow."

They all left and started walking towards Telmar castle, it looked much different and seemed somehow less forbidding than the first time they'd seen it. As they walked Peter was explaining everything he could to Verity including the stories of their last two trips and the truth about Caspian's visit to England, she was amazed, but seemed to believe them, as it all seemed to fit with her observations of Peter and the others in England. As they approached the gate a faun soldier armed with a halberd stopped them and said. "who goes there? Friend or foe?"

Peter stepped forward and replied.

"we come in peace, we are the Kings and Queens of old and have brought a companion of ours, we request passage to our bed chambers. I expect his majesty gave orders."

This seemed to satisfy the faun and he checked the orders that had been printed and posted up at all the castle entrances. He then said, "pass your majesties, I shall inform the staff and rooms will be made available."

He opened the gate, led them inside and quickly told a Telmarine servant to get suites and clothes for them. The guard left them and the servant led the way to a hallway close to the Kings own bedchamber, they all bade each other goodnight and separated for the rooms the servant had unlocked and got ready. Susan found a bath waiting in the ensuite bathroom adjoining her bedchamber so she got undressed and had a bath, trying to wash off the dried blood. After she was done she dried herself and found a nightdress in the bathroom and put it on. She tried to get to sleep but, nightmares of the train wreck haunted her, so she got up and put slippers and a robe on. Making her way down the hall she stopped outside King Caspian's suite of rooms. Opening the door silently she found the young King sleeping peacefully, his dreams obviously pleasant judging by his facial expression and slow regular breathing, she thought he looked absolutely adorable sleeping there like a baby. Taking her robe off she got into bed beside him quietly, trying not to wake him, she snuggled up to him feeling how well she seemed to fit into him, and she felt his arms wrap themselves around her even though she didn't see him wake up. She rested her head on his chest and fell asleep listening to his steady heartbeat, the nightmares did not return again for the rest of the night.

The next morning King Caspian woke up to a sight he hoped he'd see for the rest of his life, Queen Susan was asleep in his arms, her long dark brown hair spilling over her shoulders and onto the pillows, the scent of vanilla driving him mad. She'd obviously

had a bath before bed, he could not see her face which was buried in his chest. He

frowned slightly as he noticed a few cuts and bruises on her delicate body, he felt awful

seeing the ivory white skin he'd always loved with patches of yellow and purple

bruising and a few cuts. He realised these might not be her only injuries as he could only see the areas of flesh not covered by the long white silk nightdress she had on. She began to stir at this point and cried out.

"Peter! Edmund! Lucy! Verity! Where are you?"

She was shaking like a leaf, so Caspian pulled her to him and spoke soothingly, "my Queen, you are safe now, and if you're here then the others are probably here also. I know not how you have come, only that you have, two years to the day you left to be exact."

Susan stopped shaking and looked at him smiling lovingly at her, his chocolate coloured gaze melting her heart, she wished she could see it every morning, especially when she wasn't waking from nightmares. She spoke quickly to him.

"Oh Caspian it was awful, we were on a train, which is a means of transport like a caravan for large numbers of people going distances too far for a horse. Anyway, the train was attacked and it crashed, I remember falling through a tunnel then I appeared in the plaza outside your castle. Aslan came, he said we supposedly died in our old world but were warped here, it was horrible."

She started sobbing and buried her head in his chest again and he held her close. She stopped suddenly and drew away as there was a knock at the door, Trumpkin's voice spoke from the other side, "your majesty are you awake? I have bad news, the Kings and Queens have arrived, however Queen Susan is missing and there's a stranger with them, the guards say she's a friend though."

Caspian looked at Susan who seemed relieved that the others were ok and he replied.

"It's alright, Sir Trumpkin, Queen Susan is in here with me, she couldn't sleep last night and came in here to find me. Don't tell King Peter though, you know what he's like, can you distract him while Queen Susan goes back to her own bedchamber to get dressed?"

Caspian heard the dwarf reply, "no promises sire, he's already looking for her, but he has a woman with him, definitely not a Telmarine either, she'll probably keep him busy."

The dwarf laughed. Susan kissed Caspian softly and Caspian's heart melted, oh how he'd missed this, her taste, her loving grip, the feel of her soft lips on his. He kissed back eagerly, but she drew away after a moment, put her robe back on and left. Caspian sighed and got out of bed, combed his hair, put some clothes on and left his room to go down to breakfast.

When he got down to the great hall he met King Peter, King Edmund and Queen Lucy, they all hugged him enthusiastically, Caspian noticed that Edmund had a slightly knowing look in his eyes. Peter said, "thought you'd never wake up! We were looking everywhere. Thanks again for your help back in England, Susan told me it was you, that necklace was incredible, she loves it."

Caspian hoped she would and was pleased to hear this, he replied to all of them, "It's good to have you all back, together we shall usher in a new golden age of Narnia and Telmar. I hope you like all I have achieved and built in your absence, once Susan and Verity arrive and we've all eaten we've had a celebration planned for your return along with the usual remembrance day gathering."

Susan and Verity came in and Caspian felt his jaw drop, he noticed Peter had a similar look on his face. Verity and Susan giggled slightly at the look on their boyfriends faces. Both looked absolutely stunning dressed in new dresses of Narnian style, Susan's was a pale blue, a colour that Caspian thought looked very good on her as it matched her eyes. Verity wore a gown of a dark red which he thought looked good with her long vivid red hair, Caspian noticed she had soft brown eyes, a bit lighter than those of most Telmarines including his, and that she had a few freckles on her face, he thought she looked quite beautiful and realised Peter was a very lucky man. The two ladies walked over to them and Verity curtsied, although Susan remained standing and said, "flies Caspian, you and Peter both look like you've been clubbed by a minotaur." Caspian swallowed and replied, "I am sorry Susan, but you look absolutely beautiful. Verity looks amazing as well, your brother is a very lucky man,"

Susan smiled and kissed him again. Verity spoke, "thank you your majesty, your palace is very beautiful and your staff have been so kind."

Caspian turned to Verity and said, "nonsense, all guests deserve to be treated well, and you are no ordinary guest my lady. If you are to join our household we must find you a speciality, however at this time because Aslan brought you here personally to join our household, I dub thee, Lady Verity Thomas of England."

They all sat down and ate their fill from the table in front of them.

Afterwards they all finished getting ready for the days festivities, Caspian previously had crowns made for the other monarchs matched as closely as possible to the originals using descriptions and pictures found amongst Professor Cornelius's books. A silver diadem that was once worn by a Telmarine princess had been found amongst the castle treasury for Lady Verity. Once they were ready they walked out of the castle to the beginning of the days events.


	5. In The Beginning

-1The return of the lady of the sun

Standard disclaimer: I am not C.S Lewis, I don't own anything except my invented characters and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

_Authors note: Once again my sincere apologies for the underline glitch that happened with the last two chapters. I figured out how to fix it so It won't happen again and the affected chapters have now been repaired and re-posted I hoped my scenario for the train crash wasn't too far fetched, I wanted something spectacular but still plausible. The main Narnia action begins from here starting with the remembrance day ceremony and a welcoming feast for the Kings and Queens. In case your wondering, yes I will create characters to marry off Edmund and eventually Lucy but not straight away as I have plans for more Suspian and Peter/Verity before I start the younger siblings on romance, not to mention I have plans for some more action sequences. As usual enjoy, and thanks for all your reviews, your opinions of what I've done well and what I haven't help me make the new chapters better. Lastly, beware of fluff, this chapter is going to be very fluffy, you have been warned._

Chapter 4: In The Beginning

The Kings and Queens of Narnia and Lady Verity stepped into the Plaza to thunderous applause. Flags bearing the crests of the Kings and Queens of old were hung from buildings all over the city. The castle had flags flying from every tower though they were at half mast. It seemed every Telmarine and Every Narnian had come out to see the monarchs, so crowded was the city. Rose petals fell like rain as citizens hung out of windows and threw them into the air, King Caspian stepped onto a dais and raised his hands and the crowd fell silent. He lowered his hands and began to speak to the crowd.

"My people, today we have gathered for two reasons, the first is to remember those who gave their lives to bring peace. Centuries of intolerance and prejudice resulted in war, suffering and death. Let us remember their sacrifice as we celebrate the new friendship between Telmar and Narnia and share in the new age of peace. We are also gathered today to celebrate the return of the Kings and Queens of old, though it seems they return under tragic circumstances. A terrible tragedy occurred in their homeland and Aslan was unable to stop it, he was able to bring the Kings and Queens here, but unfortunately the lives of many innocent people were lost in the attack. My last task is more pleasant, As well as the Kings and Queens of old, Aslan was able to spare the life of a companion of theirs, may I present Lady Verity Thomas, of England, may she find her calling and live long and prosper here. I now ask King Peter to say a few words"

The Applause was deafening as King Caspian gestured to Lady Verity to point her out to the crowd, she looked like her head was on fire as she was blushing so much. Caspian left the dais and walked over to stand beside Susan, she took his hand and squeezed it, whispering into his ear, "that was wonderful. I hope we don't ever have to fight another war, I think we've all seen too much death."

Caspian smiled at her and turned to face Peter who began to speak.

"Thank you King Caspian, We are all glad to be given this opportunity to return, though as you said, we all grieve for the families of those who died in the cowardly Nazi attack. Divided we bicker and fight but together we can achieve much and learn from each other. That is why it is our wish to unify the nations of Telmar and Narnia and rule them both from a single royal household, and from that household, we shall watch over you, and do all in our power to bring peace and prosperity to the land."

If it were possible the applause was even louder at the end of King Peter's speech. Both Narnians and Telmarines were ecstatic at the news of the plans to unify the kingdoms because to all the crowd gathered it seemed so logical, The Kings and Queens of Narnia and King Caspian of Telmar were almost brothers and sisters in their eyes. Also they had all seen and heard of the love shared between King Caspian and Queen Susan and so it seemed to be so simple an idea yet it made perfect sense.

After a few speeches were given by various dignitaries wreathes and bouquets were laid at the base of the obelisk which was the local memorial to all those who had died in the revolution and the Telmarine conquest. A minutes silence was observed and then at the end, songs were sung by the crowd and an orchestra, of both Narnian and Telmarine origin played the tunes. The crowd began to disperse afterwards, so Caspian and the others made their way back to the castle. Verity thanked Caspian for the welcome and assured him that she'd do her best for the realm.

Later on the welcoming feast began, dishes showcasing Telmarine and Narnian cooking were there in abundance, many types of fish, game and vegetables were there making the tables groan under the weight, wines and other drinks from all over the world were there as well. Course after course was brought out and Peter and Edmund recognized many old favourites from feasts held in the golden age. All ate, drank and spoke happily into the night. Aslan came and spoke to them all, wishing them all the best, Queen Lucy tried to offer him food, but the great lion chuckled and said he'd already eaten and how was he supposed to sit at a dining table and use cutlery when he was a lion.

The evening was rounded off by a spectacular fireworks display. The crowd celebrating in the city oohed and aahhed as the various rockets exploded with all the different colours of the rainbow. Susan and Caspian were standing on a balcony overlooking the city watching the display, Lucy and Edmund had gone to watch from the courtyard with the castle staff and garrison and Peter and Verity were off alone somewhere. Caspian said quietly to Susan. "I am sorry about what happened to you, I knew you were coming, but Aslan never said how. I hope tonight's festivities weren't too much when I'm sure you all feel sad for the deaths of your fellow travellers."

Susan smiled at him and replied, "it's ok, Aslan was able to send word to our families that we're all ok here. There wasn't anything Aslan could do to save everyone. It's hard knowing we were saved and they weren't but we weren't the ones who launched the bomb it's their fault those people died. I don't know about the others but I loved every minute of today, the statues are lovely by the way. It's great to be back for so many reasons, but the most important one for me is you. I love you Caspian."

Caspian thought he'd been given the greatest gift of all and replied, "my dear Susan, I have loved you from the first time I saw you, your love is the greatest gift imaginable to me."

He leaned forward and pulled her close, she reached for his neck and pulled him into a deep and passionate kiss, it seemed to last a lifetime to Caspian, to him it seemed like the world was standing still.

Meanwhile, Peter and Verity were also watching the fireworks from a high tower that gave an excellent view of the city and surrounding countryside. Verity looked at Peter and said, "everything is so different here. But at the same time it's so wonderful and the people are so nice, what was it like when you first came?"

Peter thought about this for a moment and replied, "we arrived into the start of a war, the whole land was covered in snow, Narnia is beautiful all year around but that winter was magical in nature. Edmund was tricked by the witch into betraying us and was captured, at first the only reason we agreed to stay was to get him out. But the Narnians were so nice to us, we ended up feeling like we owed it to them to fight once Ed was saved."

Verity smiled and said, "at least this time there isn't a war on here, and you can show me the land at its best. I'm glad I got that train, it's wonderful here and you've done so much for me, I never thanked you for it. Thank you Peter, you really are a gentleman."

She leaned in slowly and kissed him, as she did so, Peter could just make out another couple on a balcony below them, he guessed it was Susan and Caspian, but remembering his agreement with Susan he focused his attention fully on Verity and pulled her closer to him putting his arms around her waist a as she put hers around his neck. Brushing her tongue against his lower lip she sought for an entrance, he obliged and let her deepen the kiss, they broke away for air after a few minutes.

Peter, panting slightly for air but grinning all the same replied, "I am so glad I took you to the ball Verity, you really are incredible in so many ways, it's a shame Cedric had to interrupt us at the ball but thanks to him you were able to come to Narnia, and now you've found a place amongst us. You'll make a great lady of the court, you just have to show what your good at, and you'll find your niche here. "

She smiled and they left the tower together as the fireworks ended, both couples made their way back to their separate suites and went to bed, all feeling hopeful for their futures together.

Next morning they all met up for breakfast, all of them felt a bit light-headed after the amount of wine they had drunk last night, with the exception of Lucy who hadn't had any, but they felt happy as they ate their breakfast. Caspian addressed the table at large. "I've called for a session of the council tomorrow to discuss the unification, we'll need to draw up a new constitution. You're all on the council, there are seats that were left vacant in the aftermath of the revolution, mostly Lords who were too close to my father for Miraz's taste. I wish for you all to take your seats on the council as the senior councillors. Professor Cornelius came up with the idea a few weeks before my trip to England. Also how would you like to see Cair Pavarel?" I've had it restored, and was hoping to move the capital there in time."

Susan looked pleased at his words and said, "of course we'll join the council, that makes perfect sense. You're the high King these days, but us being the highest ranking councillors lets us help you and keep our titles. Is Cair Pavarel what you mentioned in your love note that you wanted to show me?"

Edmund made a face at them and Caspian said, "yes it is, structurally it's finished, but I could only do so much decorating with the history books, you all lived there. So I was thinking you could help restore the decorations inside the palace."

Lucy looked eagerly at Caspian and said, "sounds great to us, can we go the day after this council meeting?"

Caspian nodded in reply and said, "yes we can, I was hoping you'd say that. The construction teams found a lot of personal items in the ruins that the Telmarines missed, some of those could be yours."

The next day the six of them took their seats in the council chamber, Caspian had explained how the system worked but they all still felt a bit nervous as the Kings and Queens of old hadn't been to anything like this for over 1300 years and Lady Verity hadn't seen anything like it before at all.

King Caspian began the proceedings by addressing the chamber, "Kings, Queens, Lords and Ladies of the council, today we meet to write the unification of Telmar and Narnia into law, together we shall draft a new constitution and code of laws. We have asked several Narnian representatives to assist us to gain their opinion of the new constitution and law codes once we have a draft copy. Today I propose we draw up our initial ideas then adjourn for a period of time, perhaps a week, where we can draft amendments, we can reconvene then at the end of this time to discuss any issues and then formally sign the documents and enact them into law, what say you?"

The Lords spoke amongst themselves for a few minutes and then all of them began nodding in agreement to the Kings suggestion. Lord Parma then said, "that's a very good suggestion sire, I can see you've put a fair bit of thought into this already. Might I suggest most of our own laws stay as the basis for the new code? The Telmarine people have accepted them for centuries."

Edmund then said, "he's right Caspian, no need to reinvent the wheel if you don't need to. If your own laws are working well enough anyway, just adapt them to suit the addition of the Narnians as citizens."

Verity then spoke for the first time, "I propose a vote, all those in favour of keeping the existing laws as the basis for the new code but modifying them to suit the new citizens where necessary."

Caspian replied, "a good suggestion, all those in favour of the proposal raise your hand."

They all did at once so Caspian said, "It is unanimous, very well. Find copies of the code of laws and make notes on any suggestions you may have on adapting them to future needs of the new races to be included as part of the national census. I propose a census be held as soon as the new code of laws and constitution is finalised."

Lord Grozelle said, "as you command your majesty, I was about to suggest that myself, as no one really knows how many Narnians there actually are and we need to know so we can effectively integrate them into the new society."

Peter then spoke, "We'll need to overhaul the army as well, as my first amendment to the new constitution I propose the creation of new regiments and for the right for Narnians to join existing ones to accommodate the skills of Narnian warriors. We need an effective military, with the chaos from the unification other nations may try to attack, or there could be groups of renegade officers and men from the revolution who could pose a threat."

Caspian replied, "I agree, not all the officers and men who fought in the revolution are accounted for, some fled over borders, mostly Lord Sopastion's men and some of his officers. Also I agree with King Peter, every citizen Telmarine or Narnian should have the right to defend our nation."

The Lords all made noises of agreement at this statement.

Susan then said, "what about taxes and trade, we'll need an amendment to standardize currency, taxes and trade."

Another Lord who was an older man named Cesar Galna added, "her majesty is right, what form of currency and taxation is used in Narnia, a uniform currency should be our first priority."

Peter then said, "why not use the current tax laws now and add a constitutional amendment for a new currency, we can change the taxes if we need to, and we will to take into account uniquely Narnian goods which won't have any tax on them. Since Narnia hasn't existed as a country for centuries I'm guessing bartering was the norm."

Caspian then said, "I call for a vote, the proposal is to use the present tax laws for now and create a new uniform currency, hands up all in favour of the proposal."

Once again the vote was unanimous, at the end of the session Caspian signed the documents drawn up by the council scribes detailing the legislation that had been agreed on and copies were distributed to the members of the council to view.

The next day, they set off for Cair Pavarel, escorted by Trumpkin, Reepicheep and a dozen elite guardsmen. They got there after two days, stopping off to see Queen Lucy's crossing along the way, the little Queen was very impressed at the stone bridge which featured a large statue of her at one end, holding her dagger and glaring across the river towards Aslan's How as if daring someone to cross without her approval.

As they approached Cair Pavarel the four Kings and Queens of old let out a cry of joy at the sight of the castle fully restored sitting amidst beautiful gardens under a clear blue sky, dismounting suddenly from their horses they ran towards the main gate, surprising the honour guard that were waiting for them to enter more like the Kings and Queens they were. Caspian turned to Lady Verity who'd stayed with him and said. "Well that's a burden off my shoulders, I was afraid they wouldn't like my efforts at restoring this palace to it's original glory."

Verity smiled and replied, "with the way you act so wisely your majesty, I'm surprised you worried at all, Professor Cornelius told me about this place, he said you always loved the stories about it, I'm guessing you'll want to marry Queen Susan here, is that right?"

Caspian said quietly, "yes it is, I am thinking of proposing once the business of the unification has been dealt with. Don't tell her though I want to surprise her and do it properly."

Verity smiled and said she wouldn't, the pair dismounted and walked inside through the ranks of the honour guard as grooms took their horses, Trumpkin and Reepicheep walking along behind them. They went to look for the others so Caspian could show them what he'd done and what needed doing. He looked forward to the challenge of moving the capital here as he had always been fascinated by the stories and always thought the castle sounded nicer than his own, he had to admit the sight of it fully repaired enchanted him almost as much as the Kings and Queens of old, and it also helped that Susan had loved the place and no doubt wanted to move back here, he'd do anything for Susan he thought as he walked through the restored castle looking for her.


	6. All's Fair In Love and War

-1The return of the lady of the sun

Standard disclaimer: I am not C.S Lewis, I don't own anything except my invented characters and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

_Authors note: Reviews are continuing to come in, the more I get, the better the story will be as I'll know what you think. No Narnia fanfic is complete without some good action, I promise some will come soon, the stage for that will be set in this chapter._

_Don't get too angry at me for how I do it and for spoiling the main event of the chapter. I have decided what I'm going to do with Edmund as well, I'm not the first to use the pairing I've decided on, but I'm going to do it in a completely different way to the fanfic which gave me the idea. Forget voyage of the Dawn Treader and the Silver Chair events, the seeds of my way of pairing him off will be sown in the chapter after this one. Lastly I hope no one is angry with my idea for New Venice, I saw it in the same fanfic as the Edmund pairing and absolutely loved the idea and want to borrow it. If you have any objection to the city, leave a review saying so and I'll cut the idea out._

Chapter 5: Alls Fair In Love and War

Five days later The Kings and Queens and lady Verity were sitting in the great hall of Cair Pavarel talking happily about the time they had been here and Ideas for decorations, they were due to set out for Telmar city later today for the council meeting finalising the new law codes and the constitution. The past few days had been wonderful, the Kings and Queens had loved Caspian's efforts at restoring the palace, he had been spending as much time as he could alone with Susan, the two of them taking great delight in exploring the palace and gardens together. The six of them had written all sorts of new amendments for the constitution, mainly referring to the structure of the council and monarchy and the moving of the primary royal palace and the capital city to Cair Pavarel, it had been decided to build a city on the many islands near the palace with bridges and ferries linking them to each other and the mainland, the Kings and Queens of old naming the new city New Venice after the famous city back on Earth, they had also decided to appoint several Narnians to seats at the council.

They arrived at the council meeting two days later and were pleasantly surprised when the Lords including the new Narnian ones unanimously supported the new constitution. The code of laws needed little work as most of the laws were seen as fair by the Narnian Lords. Afterwards Caspian felt happy, now the legal business had been taken care of he could make his next move, he had secretly sent an order to the royal jeweller for an engagement ring, and it had arrived that morning, a fortnight after the unification had been formally ratified. He sought out King Peter as Susan's father wasn't available, finding him in the castle gardens with Lady Verity, feeling nervous about what he was about to ask he said , "Excuse me Peter can I have a word? It's very important."

Peter replied, "alright Caspian, is it politics? You look, and sound nervous."

Lady Verity took one look at Caspian's face and walked off smiling at him as she realised what Caspian was about to ask. Caspian took a deep breath and said.

"No Peter it isn't politics, I wish to ask for Queen Susan's hand in marriage. Normally I would ask her fathers permission, but since he isn't here I must ask you according to Telmarine tradition."

Peter looked slightly shocked but regained his composure after a moment and said.

"I thought you would ask soon enough. It really is Susan's decision, I can see you love each other and you would never hurt her, so I give my permission. However, Ed and I will need to give you _the talk. _We would have done it sooner but we've been so busy lately that we never got round to it, plus I've been spending my free time with Verity. I'll go get Edmund, you wait here."

Caspian nodded to him and Peter left, five minutes later he came back with King Edmund who had a serious look on his face. The just King said in a serious voice.

"Peter just told me what you've asked, now we have to give you _the talk. _Basically you have to promise us that you'll always love and care for Susan and never do anything to hurt her. If you break her heart you'll have us to answer to."

Peter then added, "Ed's covered most of it, Susan's our sister and if you do anything to hurt her your dead meat, we won't bother with specific threats of what we'll do, as we know you won't do anything to hurt her."

Caspian nodded and replied, "I swear by Aslan that I'll always love and cherish her and won't do anything to hurt her, if I do, do your worst, I'd deserve it. As for specific threats don't worry, Sir Reepicheep and Sir Trumpkin already made some nasty ones. They gave me this talk as well when I told them I was planning to propose to Susan."

Edmund looked curiously at him, Trumpkin and Reepicheep came over and the DLF said to Edmund and Peter.

"Don't worry your majesties, I already threatened him with Reepicheep and his unit where it would hurt the most, and that was when you two were done."

The four of them started laughing while Caspian scowled at the dwarf and said.

"you had to remind me, Sir Trumpkin, hearing that threat once was bad enough."

They all laughed at this, meanwhile Lady Verity, Queen Susan and Queen Lucy were watching the scene curiously from a balcony wondering what was going on.

Lucy said to the other two, "I think Peter and Edmund were giving him _the talk_ when the DLF and Reepicheep decided to join in, whatever threat was proposed must have been funny to all of them except Caspian."

Susan then replied to her sister, "why now? They should have done this ages ago if they were planning on doing it at all."

Verity smiled at Susan and said, "they must have a reason, they wouldn't do this now for no reason. I know King Caspian asked Peter for a private word and looked pretty nervous. Oh look, they've finished with him. By the way who's the DLF?"

Susan replied, "the DLF is Sir Trumpkin's nickname. It means dear little friend, Lucy made it up during the revolution."

The gathering below them broke up as Caspian walked inside and the two brothers stayed talking to Trumpkin and Reepicheep.

Lucy then smiled at Susan and said. "Oooh I think, I know what's going on. I might be wrong, but I think I know what's going to happen, I won't spoil it though."

Susan looked at her sister curiously and replied, "what is it Lu?"

Lucy then added, "I'm not telling, let Caspian do that."

Susan suddenly seemed to sense what she meant and thought, "do you think he's going to…" but noticed the others had left as they saw King Caspian coming with a determined look on his face and a small box in one hand. He walked over to Susan and said, "can I have a word? I must ask you a question and its very important."

Susan could sense the fear in his voice and smiled at him as she realised what he was about to ask. She replied, "of course you can Caspian, you can ask me anything. I don't know why your frightened, I won't hurt you."

Swallowing nervously the young King dropped onto one knee, Susan put both hands to her mouth and her eyes widened in shock. Caspian gazed into her eyes and said.

"My Queen, I have loved you from the second I met you and always will, will you marry me?"

He opened the box to show a beautiful diamond ring, it had a large central diamond and an engraving on the band reading, '_love shall always triumph over adversity._'

Susan was stunned, she couldn't believe this was real, she couldn't speak, her lips were moving but she couldn't say anything. Realising he was waiting for an answer she breathed softly, "yes."

So Caspian took her left hand and slid the ring onto her ring finger, then put the box back in the pocket of his tunic. Susan suddenly recovered from her shock and tackled him into a hug, raining kisses on every inch of his face she could reach. She then started sobbing uncontrollably so he pulled her closer and held her, just as the sound of clapping and cheering reached their ears. Looking over Susan's shoulder Caspian saw King Peter and King Edmund with a large group of council Lords all cheering and clapping in the garden below them. Bells started ringing as the castle soldiers saw what was happening and hurried to tell the town criers.

The noise seemed to pull Susan out of the trance she appeared to be in and she drew away and looked down into the garden and saw the crowd gathered there, she turned to Caspian and said.

"I can't believe this, you think they'd give us some privacy, were they watching the whole time?"

Caspian shrugged and replied to his new fiancé, "I think so, those Lords were badgering me to hurry up and get married from the day I took the throne. Also I wouldn't be surprised if your brothers had told them I was going to propose, since your father isn't here I had to ask Peter for your hand. By Telmarine tradition if the bride-to-be's father isn't available the prospective suitor must ask her oldest male relative for permission, he'll then give the bride away at the wedding too. After I asked, he and Edmund gave me _the talk_ ."

Susan laughed and then kissed Caspian again, drawing whistles from the watching crowd. Caspian drew back slightly after a long moment and said, "let's go, I think they've seen enough. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling hungry, let's go get some lunch."

Susan nodded and replied, "lead the way dear."

So Caspian offered her his hand and the two went inside and to the great hall.

When they got there, everyone inside stood up and began clapping, a squad of soldiers formed an honour guard and the couple walked towards their seats, Queen Lucy and Lady Verity were waiting for them and they both flung themselves onto the two of them gushing hysterically. Lucy managed to speak coherently after a few minutes and squealed. "Congratulations! I was wondering when you'd ask her Caspian. When's the wedding?"

Caspian released the gushing girl and replied smiling down at her, "we're not sure yet, we've only been engaged five minutes. I was hoping for a summer wedding, that's about two months away. Royal weddings take some organising."

Susan put a hand on his shoulder and added, "Summer sounds lovely, how about Cair Pavarel, there's a really lovely area of the garden that would be wonderful at that time of year."

Verity replied. "Oh I know where you mean, that courtyard with the fountain and the flower beds, Peter showed it to me while we were there."

Caspian nodded at the ladies words and said, "I hoped you'd pick Cair Pavarel. I was about to ask if we could use that, I love that courtyard too."

Susan hugged and kissed him again to a collective awww from the people in the great hall. Peter, Edmund, Trumpkin and Reepicheep all came in at this point, the two brothers made their way over to them and hugged them both as well. Peter grinned at Caspian then said, "I'm guessing she said yes then."

Susan looked at her elder brother slightly coolly and said, "yes I did Peter, and did you and Ed have to lead those Lords on like that and turn it into a show?"

Peter and Edmund grinned slightly sheepishly and Edmund replied, "Sorry Su, we wanted to see how Caspian got on after he asked Pete for permission, we'd just given him _the talk_ as well."

Peter added to his brothers words, "We didn't tell the Lords, they came out just as Caspian walked onto the balcony and they guessed what was going on by the ring box in his hand. Half the castle was watching."

Lucy and Verity grinned and said, "true but we didn't carry on like idiots, we were subtle about it."

Susan said, "ok, but don't act like idiots at the ceremony, or I'll dump ice water on your head If I see you kiss a girl Ed, I'm seriously considering doing it anyway."

They all laughed and then sat down to eat, as did the crowd watching them.

Unfortunately they got a nasty shock a short time later once they'd finished their meal.

A messenger came up to the six of them, bowed and handed over an envelope. He then left very quickly. Caspian opened the envelope and read the message, the colour drained from his face and he said quietly, "why today? Of all the days for this to happen."

Susan looked at him and could sense something was wrong, so she asked.

"What's wrong dear? What's in the message?"

Caspian sighed and then said to the group at large, "there is a report of a rebellion attacking villages near the Ettinsmoor border, it appears to be made up of renegade soldiers from the revolution and mercenaries from across the borders. Also the leaders appear to be officers from Lord Sopastion's regiment."

Peter thumped his hands on the table, "bastards! They had to pick today. They'd better hope they die in battle, if we take them alive I'm going to kill them horribly for ruining today."

Edmund and Caspian both nodded in agreement and Caspian spoke to the whole hall.

"We wont defeat the rebels by threatening them. Assemble the council and my Generals, if we can defeat them quickly we can get back to wedding plans."

Everyone agreed with this and the word was passed to the council. Ten minutes later everyone was in the council chamber, Caspian addressed the room at large.

"We have a crisis on our hands. Rebels are attacking and pillaging farms and villages near the northern border. Until we know more there is little we can do to stop them."

Peter then began to speak, "I suggest we station troops near key northern villages and at Cair Pavarel as well as near the border, we'll have to send a message to the Ettinsmoor embassy so they don't think we're declaring war on them. Once our troops are in place they can respond to attacks while we plan on how to strike the rebels down."

The Lords all seemed to agree with Peter on this as they were all nodding and murmuring in support at the sound of his words.

Edmund added, "we should go to Cair Pavarel and command our army from there, it's closer to the border than here. What is our strength anyway?"

Lord Grozelle replied to Edmunds query, "your majesty, most of the army is at full strength, we recruited heavily and reorganised the structure after the revolution in case of any further attacks. A lot of Narnians joined after the unification as well, we just have to organise them and create those new regiments using their skills."

Caspian nodded and said, "good, in that case we outnumber them. They'll never risk an open battle. So we'll have to try and ambush them if we get a chance. I agree with all of your suggestions, dispatch the army to guard the northern lands. We'll move to Cair Pavarel and defend from there while we gather more intelligence."

The Lords all acknowledged their orders and slowly left the chamber. The word was sent out to the army bases and the very next day the six of them set off for Cair Pavarel at the head of a large column of soldiers and artillery pieces. Caspian looked miserable as they made their way towards Queen Lucy's crossing, so Susan rode up next to him and said, "don't be sad Caspian, none of this is your fault. If Peter's idea works we'll be able to win this war quickly and get back to planning our wedding."

Caspian sighed and replied, "it's just a shame they picked yesterday. You should be surrounded by your sister and an army of maids and seamstresses planning your wedding dress now, not riding off to war."

Susan laughed slightly at his words and replied, "I know, but the safety of the realm comes first, if Peter doesn't get Sopastion's officers first I'll turn them into pincushions." After four days they arrived at Cair Pavarel, the soldiers began to increase the security by building obstacles and ditches into the surrounds and training some of the artillery pieces on the approaches. The six leaders began to send griffins and horsemen on patrol to look for any signs of the enemy over the next few days.

One morning a griffin named Skyree who had been on patrol landed in a courtyard. Caspian came over to him and the Griffin said.

"Sire, I have good news and bad news, what do you want to here first."

Caspian thought for a moment and said, "give me the good news."

Skyree then replied, "I have found the rebel base, their using the white witches old castle, but the bad news is that their fairly well entrenched, a frontal assault would be cut to ribbons with the amount of rebels there at the moment."

Caspian thought about it for a moment and then said, "well done. At least we know where they are, take rest noble griffin, you have done well. I will summon the Generals and the other Kings and Queens and try and come up with a plan."

Skyree bowed his head and then flew off towards the griffin stables as Caspian made his way inside.

He gathered up the others and they sat down in the throne room to plan their next move against the rebels. Caspian hoped their plan would work better than the last collectively planned attack.


	7. I Have a Brilliant Strategy

-1The return of the lady of the sun

Standard disclaimer: I am not C.S Lewis, I don't own anything except my invented characters and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

_Authors note: The porcupine is a kind of Ballista, instead of one large bolt, it fires a large quantity of smaller ones, you might recognize it from Prince Caspian the movie from the battle of Aslan's how where the Telmarine army use a few to kill the griffins trying to attack from above. Before you say I made the war start and end too quickly, it is only a small band of rebels made up of deserters and hired scum, not a full scale army being pitted against a battle hardened national army and superior tactics will be used to cut fighting to a minimum, those superior tactics are not original, I know a variant of the deception I use to trick the rebels was used by the Allies in world war two to fool Hitler. Please, give me more reviews. I need them to know what you think, Only a few of you are consistently reviewing each chapter at the moment. Lastly I hope you like my name choice for Edmunds damsel in distress, I was looking through a book of name meanings as I wrote this chapter and I thought the name I chose was appropriate considering who the girl is._

Chapter 6: I have A Brilliant Strategy

The six leaders of Narnia sat in the throne room with the council Lords brainstorming to come up with a plan to attack the rebels. King Caspian with his Telmarine heritage was the most well educated in modern strategy and had an idea, he started to speak. " If we could distribute some false information we could lure them into an ambush somewhere between here and the old witches castle, perhaps Owlwood?"

Peter replied, "that might work, we'd have to make the documents look real and they'd have to be the sort of thing that would lure out the rebels, we'd also need to bait the trap."

Lady Verity with a thoughtful look on her face made a contribution, "armies take a lot of logistics to manage, as well as pay and supplies. Everyone knows that an army marches on it's stomach. If those rebels are raiding and pillaging, give them a bait they'd want badly, like gold or supplies."

Susan looked surprised at Verity and said, "good idea, we could send a convoy into Owlwood en-route to a garrison, supposedly with pay, equipment and food supplies. Let the rebels get hold of written orders about it, and then ambush them in the forest when they attack."

Lucy added, "that might be dangerous for the troops with the convoy."

Caspian smiled at her and said, "this is war Lucy, much must be risked, we will take as many precautions as we can. We could prepare hiding places for the convoy troops for when their attacked, once we've fired arrow and artillery barrages they can help fight the rebels."

The council Lords had all been listening and Lord Parma spoke up, "your majesties, your plan is cunning, with your permission we'll start on the convoy, if you can write the fake orders, then we just have to find a way of giving the information to the enemy troops."

Edmund then spoke, "I have an idea for that, we've killed one or two rebels lately when our troops have protected villages haven't we?"

Lord Galma replied, "yes sire, we killed five this morning when we stopped a raid on a village in the mountains."

Edmund then said, "why not dress one of the corpses in one of our uniforms and then get a griffin to put him where they'll find him along with a dead horse, put the orders in a fancy box so they'll see it and put it on the body. The corpse would have to be a Telmarine, the mercenaries would recognize one of their own dead men."

Caspian replied, "that's brilliant, let's get started as soon as this meeting finishes, I'll write the fake orders. Lord Parma can organise the carts, load the chests with a thin layer of gold on top but rocks underneath, and put poison in some supply barrels which you can load. If they eat and drink from them, it might take a few of them out of the fight. training weapons and old armour will do for the rest of the cargo. King Peter, can you organise a hiding place for the convoy troops to escape our arrow fire and artillery? Also you can find a good spot to ambush the enemy from. Once everything is prepared we'll arrange who'll command what in the battle. Lastly, Susan, can you teach Verity how to use a bow or crossbow?"

They all nodded and left to carry out their part of the plan, three days later they were waiting on a heavily wooded knoll overlooking the road through the forest. All of the troops were wearing new uniforms designed to blend into the surroundings. King Edmund was commanding an artillery battery with several porcupines, Queen Susan and Lady Verity were leading a regiment of archers and crossbowmen with both Narnian and Telmarine troops. Kings Peter and Caspian had a regiment of infantry made up of men, fauns, minotaur's and weapon-less Narnians, like wolves and tigers as heavy Calvary couldn't effectively fight in this part of the forest. They watched as the convoy made it's way past them slowly but were not kept waiting for long as battle cries came from further down the road and up ahead of the convoy. It seemed that the enemy army had taken the bait, at least 500 men came and set upon the convoy like wolves on a herd of sheep. As they were ordered to, the guards on the convoy panicked and ran away, heading in all directions. The rebels were so greedy that they didn't bother chasing after them and none were hurt. Just as the rebels started pillaging the carts King Caspian took out Queen Susan's horn and blew a single loud note as the signal to attack. The rebels never knew what hit them, Queen Susan and Lady Verity's missile troops laid down a tremendous volley just as King Edmund and his gunners pulled the camouflage netting he'd had made to disguise his Porcupines off and opened fire as well. Bolts and arrows rained down in a deadly hail of steel cutting scores of men and horses down where they stood. The rebels looked about trying to find where the deadly rain had come from but before they could do anything else, another volley rained death on them again and struck down more of them. King Caspian and King Peter then shouted, "CHARGE!"

And ran forwards leading the front-line infantry into battle. Caspian seemed to think that most of the fight had been knocked out of the rebels as he drew his sword and ran into the main melee. He swung his sword and felt it touch bone again and again as he skewered one rebel after another, he pulled it free from his last kill and turned to face yet another rebel who ran at him screaming defiance. He beat the enemy soldiers blade aside and kicked out knocking the man down. Before he could kill the man however a crossbow bolt came out of nowhere and hit the rebel he'd just kicked squarely in the chest, he looked for the source and saw Lady Verity and Queen Susan on the hill they'd charged from picking off exposed rebels with the regiment they were leading. He shouted out, "HEY HE WAS MINE!"

Verity replied, "Sorry your majesty, I had a clean shot."

Susan shook her head slightly but then turned her attention back to the battle, taking out another exposed rebel who was running towards a melee near one of the carts.

After another thirty minutes the battle was over, Peter said that as far as battles went it was more of a rout in his eyes. They had killed 550 enemy officers and men for twelve dead friendly troops and thirty wounded, all the carters were unhurt and had escaped to the prearranged hiding spots. For the rest of the day they healed the injured and buried the dead. Queen Lucy was working with the medical corps, her magical elixir healing many a wounded soldier.

The next day Skyree flew into the camp they had set up and reported that there were hardly any soldiers left at the enemy fortress. So King Caspian sent him with a message for the remaining soldiers and artillery to join them in marching on the witches old castle. They did so and a week later they arrived and surrounded the remaining rebels who had dug in there. The Kings and Queens of old saw that it had been remodelled since the days of the witch, So Caspian explained that during the Telmarine occupation it had been used as a border outpost for guarding the Ettinsmoor border and was under the command of Lord Sopastion. After the revolution it had held a reduced garrison but they had most likely been taken by surprise and wiped out by the rebels.

Caspian gazed through a telescope the morning after they had surrounded the castle and saw battle standards flying from masts, guessing the rebels were not going to come out, he decided to issue an ultimatum. Turning to Edmund who he had placed in charge of the assembled artillery battery he said, "tie a note to a rock and fire it into the castle, tell them they have until noon to surrender or we'll attack."

Edmund nodded and wrote a note, he then tied it to a rock which he ordered to be loaded into a catapult. With a thunk the throwing arm fired the rock which hit a window and crashed through, Caspian turned to the Edmund and said, "good shot Edmund, that will help put our point across."

Edmund nodded and replied, " I hope so, I've got a strange feeling about coming here. On one hand I feel a bit scared since the last time I came I was captured, on the other, I want to end this fight quickly. Also I don't know why, but I can sense a presence in that castle, one that seems to cry out for rescue."

Caspian looked strangely at him sand said, "Is that possible? Perhaps some trace of the witches magic still lingers here and you're more sensitive to it than your brother and sisters, but still, that might be useful if they have prisoners in there."

Hours passed and noon came with no surrender, so King Caspian ordered the artillery battery to pound the castle. Rock after rock slammed into the walls, reducing the battlements and gatehouse to ruins, as darkness fell Caspian ordered a frontal attack.

Charging forwards they met little resistance as they stormed the keep, as the gatehouse and battlements had been reduced to rubble and splinters by the bombardment and the enemy had so few soldiers left.

Once they were inside they stopped in the entranceway that once held the victims of the witches freezing magic. Peter gathered the leaders together and said, "Caspian, you and I will take troops along with Reepicheep's unit and Trumpkin and search the place for any survivors. Su, can you and Verity take your archers and guard the exits, make sure nobody escapes. Ed, Caspian told me about how you could sense a presence. Take some troops and search the dungeons for prisoners."

Everyone nodded, so Edmund took a squad of twelve men and found the stairs leading to the dungeon. After killing a few guards they found a series of hallways that were hauntingly familiar to the just King, remembering where he was, he turned to his men.

"The cells are down these hallways, spread out and search them. Teams of four down each one, meet back upstairs when you're done."

The soldiers all acknowledged the orders and spread out, Edmund leading a team down the hall he remembered being taken down by the witches Henchdwarf Ginebric. Seeing one empty cell after another he was about to order the group to turn around when he got to the last cell. However, before he could say a word he noticed it was occupied and it was the same cell he'd been thrown into. He heard a series of war cries and saw several guards coming, turning to face them, Edmund and his team quickly cut them down. Searching the bodies one of his men found a key ring, so Edmund started trying them until he found one that opened the cell. He went in and walked over to the prisoner who was lying face down in a corner clearly unconscious but still breathing.

Turning the prisoner over he clutched his hand to his chest in surprise and took a deep breath when he saw the prisoners face. Edmund and his men felt their jaws drop, the prisoner was a girl, of about King Edmunds own age, but she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, Edmund thought that she couldn't possibly be entirely human, no girl he'd ever seen was so flawless. She was a few inches taller than him and had long silvery blonde hair that reached her waist. She was wearing a long dark blue dress which had a few rips in it, most likely due to her struggling when she was captured. Recovering slowly from his shock, Edmund faced his men, One of you get up to King Caspian, tell him we've found a prisoner and that I'll get her out myself."

A soldier bowed slightly and turned and left, so Edmund quickly put his sword away, grabbed the key ring, and started searching for a key to the shackles that were binding the girls legs to the floor. Getting the shackles off, he picked her up bridal style and ordered his men to cover him from any more guards as he carried the girl out of the castle.

Taking her back to camp, Edmund took her to the medical corps tent and laid her on a bed. A medic came over and examined her, she seemed to have been knocked out by a sleeping potion, so the medic gave her an antidote to make it wear off faster and put a blanket over her. King Edmund pulled out a chair and sat down next to the bed just as Queen Lucy came inside. Gasping at the sight she said to her brother, "Oooh she looks like sleeping beauty, maybe she'd wake up with a kiss from a Prince, then again we don't have any Princes here, maybe a Kings kiss would work."

Edmund looked slightly peevishly at his sister and replied, "I don't even know her, she could be anyone. I don't know how, but I somehow sensed her presence before we attacked."

Lucy seemed slightly shocked and replied, "I don't know how that's possible. I'll go see if they've finished searching the castle, if she wakes up be nice to her Ed."

Lucy left and Edmund pondered her words, he'd had always had a slight fear of touch, ever since the white witch had captured him and even before that he'd never found it easy to express emotions and feelings. He waited silently and was just thinking about looking for something to eat when he heard a soft moan."

Looking around suddenly Edmund saw that his mysterious patient had begun to stir, she opened her eyes which Edmund saw were a dark blue colour, and gazed about her surroundings, focusing on Edmund she began to speak in a tone that somehow reached into his very soul, "who are you?"

Edmund was struck dumb by the intensity of her gaze, so she repeated the question, "who are you?"

Edmund swallowed and replied, "King Edmund of Narnia."

The girl seemed slightly surprised at his reply and said, "Edmund the just? I thought you were just a story. You ruled over 1300 years ago."

Edmund felt a bit better, it seemed the girl wasn't as ethereal as he first thought, so he replied. "Narnian time flows differently to that of my own homeland, I travelled back there, and was changed back to the age I was then I first entered Narnia, and spent a year there. Prince Caspian summoned me again with my sisters horn and we returned, when we got here, we soon discovered that 1300 years had passed. After we helped restore Caspian to his throne Aslan sent us home, he then saved us from an attack by bringing us here permanently."

The girl seemed to relax slightly and said, "So you're all here?"

Edmund replied quickly, "yes, Peter and King Caspian and Susan are attacking the castle, Lucy's just gone to check on the progress. A rebellion broke out a few months after we came back for the second time. I was leading a group of soldiers searching the dungeons for prisoners. I had somehow sensed a presence when we arrived, I led my group down the hall and found you, in the same cell the witch had me thrown into. We slew the guards and I got you out and brought you in here."

The girl smiled at him, Edmund felt his heart race and she said, "thank you my King. I'm sorry, I never introduced myself, my name is Esther."

She extended a hand to him, and remembering his Kingly manners he took it and kissed it softly causing her to blush slightly.

Edmund then said, "how did you end up in the dungeons of the rebels Esther?"

Esther replied with a sad tone of voice, "my father and I were visiting Ettinsmoor, we come from an island far to the east but occasionally travel elsewhere. Some soldiers came up to us while we were in a village in the south and wanted to take me to their leader but my father, Rathmandu refused, so they killed him and took me prisoner, they brought me to the castle and gave me some kind of potion, next thing I remember you were here."

She started sobbing quietly, so Edmund awkwardly squeezed her hand and passed her his handkerchief which she accepted gratefully.

The others came in a short time later and they all gasped in surprise at the sight of Esther, Edmund introduced them all and told them what she'd said, he turned to Caspian and asked, "did we get any of the leaders?"

Caspian shook his head and replied, "no, most of them we found dead, they'd killed themselves with their own swords, a few were still alive but they fought and were killed in the struggle."

Edmund felt slightly disappointed at this and Lucy said, "why are you disappointed Ed, we've won, you saved the life of a lady, and we don't have to see an execution. Caspian told me what would have been done to the leaders if we took them alive, it would have been disgusting to watch."

Edmund looked around and said, " true, we all won a great victory today but they spoiled Caspian and Susan's day, I agreed with Peter when he said he'd kill them horribly. Still at least the rebellion is over now, we've only got a month left til the wedding."

Esther looked curiously at them and said, "what wedding?"

Edmund gazed at her quickly and replied, "King Caspian had proposed to Susan the day the rebellion broke out, their due to get married in a month. All of us wanted to Kill the rebel leaders horribly for choosing to attack when they did."

The medic came up to them and insisted that Esther be left alone to rest, so they all left and went back to their own tents to rest for the night. All of them wondering what the future held, as now the war was over they could concentrate on the wedding and beyond that, the future in general. Edmund felt intrigued by Esther and wanted to know more about her, he looked forward to the challenge of finding out.


	8. Love and Marriage

-1The return of the lady of the sun

Standard disclaimer: I am not C.S Lewis, I don't own anything except my invented characters and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

_Authors note: As usual thanks for the reviews, since nobody has expressed any objections to New Venice it will stay. Also I'm sorry about the spelling error, the name of Esther's father is Ramandu not Rathmandu as I'd called him. The name Esther is Persian, it means, 'star,' I thought it suited her as yes, she is the girl that marries Caspian in the books. I based her appearance loosely on Yvaine from Stardust and Fleur Delacour from Harry Potter. I'm glad the proposal scene was seen as funny, I wanted a little light humour before the start of the rebellion. I now give you what a lot of you are probably waiting for. I hope you like my interpretation of it, be warned, this will be the fluffiest chapter yet and also probably the longest. I'll try not to make the wedding night too risqué as nobody demanded smut, so I'm sticking to the teen rating._

Chapter 7: Love and Marriage

A week later the six leaders of Narnia and Esther rode into Telmar city to a heroes welcome. The public were overjoyed at the victory, it appeared they had agreed wholeheartedly with the three Kings that the rebels deserved gruesome deaths for interrupting Caspian and Susan from planning their upcoming wedding. Esther looked slightly overwhelmed at the sight of so many people, but Edmund rode close to her whispering that she'd fit right in once she got to know everyone. He told her about Lady Verity and how she'd fitted right in once she adapted. Verity had become quite a respected Lady, her political skills and her education had helped her find a place in the court. Also her skill with a crossbow had made her a dangerous enemy during the war. They arrived back at the castle and found their bedchambers very comfortable after a hard week coming home from the witches castle.

The next morning they began to plan the most anticipated wedding in Narnian history,

Susan had appointed Lucy as maid of honour, while Lady Verity and Esther were to be bridesmaids. Caspian had appointed King Edmund as best man and Sir Trumpkin and Lord Grozelle would be groomsmen.

An army of tailors and seamstresses were working on the wedding clothes for all of them, Caspian and Edmund had also asked them to make a day to day wardrobe for Esther as well as she had decided to stay with them for at least the time being.

One day Susan and Lucy were standing in a room on stools while an assortment of maids and seamstresses were working away at fitting them, turning to her little sister Susan said,

" I never thought getting married would take so much planning and designing."

Lucy smiled and replied, "true, but you never dreamed as a little girl that you'd marry a King didn't you?"

Susan replied as a maid bade her to turn around slightly, "no I didn't, I'm glad I am though."

Lucy smiled and said, "you couldn't have done any better if you'd tried. Caspian is a good man and you're very lucky to have met him."

They both turned back to the maids and seamstresses who finished after a few hours.

While the Queens were being fitted so were the Kings, Caspian, Peter and Edmund had all gone down to their personal tailors to have their outfits made. Since grooms take much less time than brides to be fitted, they met up and went back to one of their private studies after a bit over an hour for a drink. There they met up with Trumpkin, Reepicheep and Trufflehunter who had stopped by to visit as he often did to talk to the leaders. They opened a bottle of Telmarine whiskey and sat down in a group on the sofa and armchairs in the room.

Pouring himself a drink Peter said to Caspian, "Only three weeks left Caspian, ordinarily the friends of the groom would tell him things he needs to know for after the wedding. But since it's my sister your marrying I'm not touching that subject with a forty foot lance."

They all laughed and Peter added, "one question though, when did you first fall for Susan?"

Caspian thought for a moment and then said, "When I first saw her, though I didn't realise it at first. Something about her struck me and caught my attention, over time I tried to figure out what it was that made me look at her and think about her. Eventually I figured out I loved her, I think it was the day I nearly summoned the witch, I could see the look on her face and it made me so sad that I'd caused that."

Everyone stared mildly teasing Caspian so he countered by saying, "since we're on the topic, how did you fall for Lady Verity, Peter? "

Peter thought for a moment and replied. "Her looks were what caught my attention, but when I started talking to her, I realised what a wonderful girl she is. I asked her to the ball and she said yes. Spending time with her here just reinforced everything."

They all let out a collective awww and toasted him, Edmund then said smirking slightly, "I didn't think you were the type for love at first sight Pete."

Peter countered, "Like you can talk Edmund, you sensed your girlfriends presence before you even saw her."

Edmund tried to counter and said, "she's not my girlfriend, at least not yet. I think it was something to do with the witches power that let me sense Esther. Yes I feel the whole something-about-her thing you two did, but I think she may not be entirely human, that might be what it is."

They all toasted him and muttered under their breath that he was as good as smitten.

Trufflehunter and Reepicheep remarked that humans made things so complicated, and Trumpkin said that dwarves didn't bother with so much lovey-dovey soppiness. They finished the bottle and left for dinner early so they could wash the smell of whiskey off their breath before their women found out they'd been drinking.

The day of the wedding dawned clear and sunny, King Caspian woke up and felt ill, he guessed it was pre wedding nerves. He got dressed and went downstairs and tried to eat but simply felt too queasy. One of the older Lords came over to him and looked sympathetically at him, the Lord said, " I know how you feel sire, I felt the same way on my wedding day, it's normal. Once you get out there you'll be fine, and just be yourself and don't forget your vows. Congratulations for finding such a splendid bride."

Meanwhile Susan was feeling the same nerves as her groom-to-be, Lucy and Verity were doing their best to calm her down as she sat in her drawing room eating breakfast.

A few hours later, Caspian walked into the courtyard and made his way to the front near the fountain. Guests including many foreign royals and diplomats were already there and were cheering and waving at him shouting congratulations as he passed. He found his best man and groomsmen waiting for him, Trumpkin looking very odd in his formal outfit. Edmund turned to him and said, "ready Caspian? You'd better not mess this up, this is my sister your marrying."

Caspian nodded nervously and waited as he faced the door into the palace that Susan would come from, the music started and everyone faced the door and fell silent as they saw Susan.

Caspian tried to keep his jaw level, but his eyes gave his shock away, He had never seen anything more beautiful. Susan walked up the aisle arm in arm with Peter, she was wearing a long strapless white dress and a long veil that covered her face, held in place by her crown, and she carried a bouquet of white roses. Queen Lucy, Lady Verity and Esther were slightly behind Peter and Susan, all looking spectacular dressed in pale gold. Peter and Susan reached the front and Peter released his younger sister and stepped back.

Aslan bade the couple to kneel and join hands facing each other from different sides of the altar. Mirrors were behind their heads and as Caspian gazed into Susan's sapphire coloured eyes he could see into the mirror behind her head. It was as though he was looking into eternity as the mirror showed an infinite number of images, and it was Susan he saw in the depths.

Aslan began to speak as he placed his two front paws onto the altar in front of the royal couple, "do you, Caspian the tenth, Son of Adam and High King of Narnia and Telmar, take Susan Elizabeth Pevensie, Daughter of Eve and Queen of Narnia to be your wife? In sickness and in health, as long as you both live and for eternity in my own land?"

Caspian looked directly into Susan's gaze, her blue eyes looking straight into his soul and said, "I do."

Aslan faced Susan and said, "do you, Susan Elizabeth Pevensie, Daughter of Eve and Queen of Narnia, take Caspian the tenth, Son of Adam and High King of Narnia and Telmar to be your husband? In sickness and in health, as long as you both live and for eternity in my own land?"

Susan looked into Caspian's chocolate gaze which was caring and looked like it was swimming with tears and said, "I do."

Susan barely paid attention to the rest of the ceremony waiting for Aslan to say the line she'd been wanting to hear for what seemed like a millennium, she and Caspian recited their vows and exchanged rings, Aslan then said, "I hereby pronounce you, husband and wife, and High King and High Queen of Narnia and Telmar." He placed his right paw on them both one after the other and then roared loudly.

Caspian stood up and helped Susan to stand, he gently shifted aside her veil and reached out for her, leaning forward he pulled her into a kiss, as he did so bells began to ring out and the crowd clapped and cheered loudly. A crowd of single Ladies and Princesses as well as Queen Lucy had gathered, so Susan threw her bouquet into it, it was caught by Lady Verity. She blushed, and then noticed a small card in it, pulling it out Verity read it, gasped and then ran off. Caspian took his new wife by the hand and led her down to the dance floor that had been set up. The band began to play and Caspian and Susan began to dance, after they began dancing other couples started dancing as well, Caspian noticed Peter and Verity, Peter had a triumphant grin on his face and Verity was sobbing a little bit but was beaming brilliantly, her face beet red.

Edmund was dancing with Esther and they both seemed to be enjoying themselves, while Lucy had the DLF as her partner, the dwarf looking slightly awkward but Lucy was giggling. Leaning in close as they turned, Caspian whispered, "Why do I get the feeling Peter's gone and pulled some kind of trick, look at Lady Verity."

Susan glanced at the couple in question and replied to her husband, "Peter told me he wanted to propose to Verity, so he asked me if he could write a note and hide it in the bouquet and then for me to aim for Verity when I threw it, see, look at her hand."

Caspian looked at Verity's hand and sure enough there was a ring on it.

The rest of the day passed in a beautiful fog of happiness for all in attendance, the feasting, drinking and dancing lasting well into the night. Peter and Edmund gave speeches to the crowd, officially welcoming Caspian into their family and telling funny stories about things that had happened during the time they'd known him. Everyone came and congratulated Susan and Caspian on the wedding and gave them gifts including clothes, weapons, jewellery and rare artefacts from abroad.

When the news about Peter's trick with the bouquet got out, the gushing crowd converged on Peter and Lady Verity, congratulating them on the engagement. All of the leaders were having so good a time they almost thought it was worth having to fight a war for.

Edmund seemed to be slowly losing his fear of touch, he'd met girls before but none of them were anything like Esther, she had a slight shyness to her, that was caused by her only having her father and not spending much time with children her own age, but the two of them seemed to compliment each other and he was enjoying himself as was she, as he introduced her to people and danced with her numerous times.

Lucy felt she'd achieved a feat worthy of recognition as by the end of the day she'd managed to teach Trumpkin to dance. By the end of the day, the formerly cynical dwarf was very popular amongst some of the foreign princesses, although Caspian thought that multiple tankards of ale probably helped loosen him up once he started singing about gold.

Fireworks sent rainbow colored sparks into the night as the reception finally began to finish and the guests started to retire to their rooms, Caspian led Susan back towards the palace, stopping outside the door he said, " I believe there is a tradition about carrying brides across the threshold?"

Susan replied, "yes there is, but don't you dare,"

Her last words were turned into a squeak of surprise as Caspian scooped her up in his arms and carried her through the doorway. He let her down at the foot of the stairs and she glared daggers at him, although he noticed that the glare didn't extend to her eyes. He led her upstairs into their room and shut the door behind them. Not wanting to look too eager, Caspian took his cloak and crown off and hung them on a hook. Turning back to his wife he said, "At last, no more rebels, no more politics. Now it is just us, I have looked forward to a nice holiday." Susan pouted slightly at him, "is that all you've looked forward to?"

Caspian dropped all pretence, the world had narrowed down to just him and the beautiful Queen in front of him, the woman he'd always thought of as merely a historical figure. He looked straight at her and said, "no my Queen, that isn't all. Ever since you said yes I've been waiting for this moment."

Susan stepped forward closing the distance between them and said in a sugary voice that made his legs turn to jelly, "no more waiting, help me with this dress will you?"

Caspian threw out his arms and pulled his new bride to him at once. He began kissing her softly whilst moving his hands slowly to her back, finding the lacing on her dress, he began to loosen it just as Susan began working at undoing his tunic. They worked at each others clothes like hungry lions at a carcass, Caspian let out a breath as Susan's dress began to slip down revealing her exquisite body no longer marred by cuts and bruises. Just as he stepped out of his boots and leggings they fell backwards onto the bed and he began kissing and caressing every inch of exposed skin, gauging her reactions by the gasps and sharp intakes of breath. He whispered softly to her just as his hands began to work on her underwear, "I love you my Queen."

She managed to breathe back softly as she responded to his ministrations, "I love you too my King."

Those were the last words they could speak before they could talk no more as they were lost in the flow of passion.

The next morning Caspian once again woke to the sight he hoped he'd see for the rest of his days, Susan was sleeping soundly in his arms her smooth body entwined with his. He felt as relaxed and well rested as he could ever remember being before. It seemed such a wonderful contrast to night after night of being at war and having nightmares about it. He could only hope that she was feeling the same blissful happiness he was. He couldn't move without disturbing Susan so he simply laid there and held her as he watched her sleep, she began to stir a short time later and said sleepily, "good morning dear. What time is it?"

Caspian thought for a second and said, "judging by the sun coming in the window, I'd say it's early morning."

Susan smiled seductively at him and said, "too early to get up."

Caspian agreed and they proceeded to make love again, though slower and more gentle than the way they had done so the previous night. Afterwards they lay in bed talking about what they wanted to do on their honeymoon for awhile. They reluctantly got out of bed and went and had a bath to freshen themselves up, after they were done they got dressed and went down to breakfast.

When they arrived they found that they were amongst the first to get up, despite the fact it was mid morning. They soon discovered that most of the older revellers had hangovers from the party when they found Trumpkin and he told them off for shouting while clutching his head when they greeted him. The others got up a short time later, most of them were nursing sore heads, with the exceptions of Lucy, Edmund and Esther who didn't drink enough to warrant a hangover, they all greeted each other and started eating. Susan and Caspian got packed after breakfast and set off for a manor house that belonged to the Royal family that was a few miles south of Cair Pavarel, it was used as a holiday home for Telmarine royals and hadn't been occupied since Caspian's father had last been there with the exception of the servants who maintained it. They all bid the couple farewell and they rode off towards the house. They got there a few hours later and found it amongst a spectacular sheltered bay, they saw that there was a small beach in front of the house. So they went inside and found a tastefully decorated home that seemed absolutely perfect for a honeymoon, Turning to Caspian Susan exclaimed, "this is perfect! We must come here a few times in the future, And we must tell Peter and Verity about it."

Caspian smiled and replied, "my family don't use it much since we haven't often had the time to get away, after my father was killed I never got to come here. Now though with you and the others we can share the duty of ruling and we can come more often. I agree, Peter and Verity will love it, now come, that water looks wonderful."

So they went up and got towels and fresh clothes, running down to the beach they stripped off and went in, the clear blue water was like heaven after the heat of the day.

After a refreshing swim, they dried themselves off and got dressed, going back inside they found lunch waiting for them, the servants had been told to only appear when absolutely necessary and had arranged a cold lunch as it suited the hot climate.

They spent the next month in shear bliss, simply spending as much time as they could together, swimming, sampling the local produce and seafood and exploring the local scenery as well as each other. They adored the bay which while marked on the map, had no name, they had named it Aphrodite's Bay, as the bay as the house were simply so beautiful and enticed so much desire in them and would do the same surely for anybody that stayed.

They wished their time alone would never end, but unfortunately it did and they had to leave, so after taking one last swim they rinsed and dried themselves before getting dressed and riding back to Cair Pavarel to begin their first project as a married couple, overseeing the founding of the city of New Venice.


	9. Edmunds Curiosity

-1The return of the lady of the sun

Standard disclaimer: I am not C.S Lewis, I don't own anything except my invented characters and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

_Authors note: I'm glad you liked my interpretation of the Suspian wedding. I don't have much more I want to cover, I'm thinking another 3 or 4 more chapters after this one which is set at the same time the high royals are away on their honeymoon. I will need to marry off Peter and Verity as well as Edmund and Esther as well as finding someone for Lucy once she's grown up a bit more. Since last chapter was mostly Suspian, this one will cover the other two couples. I'm not too sure of the ages and birthdays, so I'm guessing Peter and Caspian to be about 18, Susan to be 17, Edmund and Esther to be 15 and Lucy, 14. Esther's background will be explained here, it's a bit different to the other fanfics and the books, but I hope you like it. Lastly if your wondering why I decided on an Edmund chapter, Peter seems to hog the limelight in my opinion, I think Edmund deserves more credit for what he does. Which is why I'm adding in Edmund/Esther fluff here instead of Peter/Verity. Don't worry, I'll add in some more Peter/Verity in another chapter. Unfortunately after this, updates will slow considerably. At home my net connection is subject to a stupidly low download limit and me and my brother have reached it for this month, So updates will slow down considerably, the silver lining however is that the chapters will be better as I'll have more time to edit them before I post them up._

Chapter 8: Edmunds Curiosity

As Susan and Caspian rode off to begin their honeymoon, the other leaders began to fall back into the routine of court life, with the exception of King Peter and Lady Verity. They were starting to plan their wedding, and were planning for a ceremony two weeks after Caspian and Susan's honeymoon ended. King Edmund and Queen Lucy took over the main tasks of ruling as Peter and Verity were so busy with wedding plans. But that didn't keep them busy all the time, they all had some time for themselves and Edmund had begun to use his for Esther. He had been spending more and more time with her, and the pair were drawing closer together.

One late afternoon about two weeks after Caspian and Susan had left, he was standing with her in the garden at Cair Pavarel. He liked showing her the castle and grounds in the late afternoon, they seemed to have a serene beauty as the dusk began. He began to speak, "Esther, I've always wondered but have been a bit frightened to ask, you have always seemed to ethereal. Are you human or some form of elf?"

Esther laughed softly and replied, "neither Edmund, I am the daughter of a star. My father fell to this world long ago, he landed on an island near worlds end and was charged with watching over the island and the approach to the land at worlds end by Aslan himself. One day a ship was wrecked in a storm off the coast and a sole survivor reached the shore, a woman. She met my father and they fell in love after a time. I was born not long afterwards, but sadly my mother died while I was young and my father raised me with occasional help from Aslan. We were permitted to leave occasionally to purchase essential things like clothes and to visit other lands for short periods, it was on our last visit that the soldiers came, you know the rest of my story as you saved me."

Edmund was shocked at the information and felt horrible for asking her, he moved closer and replied, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you relive what must have been horrible."

Esther smiled at him and said, "don't worry Edmund, It's ok, you didn't upset me. I know my father will have returned to the heavens now, it was his destiny to return at his death. I will join him in time, once my own life ends. You have a right to know, you saved me."

Edmund felt a bit better and said, "Well, it wasn't just me really, it was all of us. I'm glad I did though. By the way, what will happen to your island now?"

Esther replied, "Aslan will find another guardian of the island, my father and I have served our time there. I'm glad you saved me as well Edmund, you really are the just one. While you always seem cast in your brother or Caspian's shadow, you've done things and faced horrors they never will. You dealt with the full terror of the witch and did your best to undermine her while in her clutches. You then destroyed her staff in battle, allowing Peter and Aslan to fight her, if you hadn't you all would have died. You killed her when your brother was enchanted. Also some of your idea's from what I've heard shortened the rebellion considerably, and then you got me out while the others were too busy to do so, if you hadn't sensed me, I'd be dead."

Edmund blushed crimson and said, "I'm not as good as Peter, I did betray my family, but I never looked at it all like that before."

Esther took a step closer, they were now only a few inches apart. She whispered softly, "Everyone has their faults my King, you redeemed yourself of the betrayal long ago, you learned much more through bitter experiences than all of the others."

Edmund felt entranced again, just as he had the day he'd first seen Esther. He thought something in her eyes could see into his very soul, his heart was pounding and he tried to hold himself upright as his legs had turned to jelly, leaning forwards slightly he whispered back, "true my Lady, but I have done far worse things than Peter."

Esther leaned closer still, her hair was beginning to tickle his cheek, Edmund was feeling overwhelmed. Esther whispered, "you aren't him, just be yourself, that's all I want."

Edmund awkwardly reached out and pulled her to him, as she reached for his neck.

The final moment seemed to last an eternity as the last few millimetres between them closed, but then Edmund felt their lips meet. The soft warm feeling of her lips on his was completely new to Edmund but he was loving every moment. He was used to Susan's caring touch and Lucy's hugs which were a little too tight and long for his liking. The kiss started slowly but seemed to grow in intensity as the two of them pulled each other closer still and deepened it.

They broke apart after a long moment, it felt like days to Edmund, he blushed even redder and started grinning broadly at her. The moment felt perfect, but unfortunately it didn't last as Lucy walked up to them, shock etched on her face. The two of them were still holding each other at arms length, sighing softly Edmund turned to his sister, "do you mind Lu? I know this is a public area, but, can we help you?"

Lucy started giggling and said, "oops, sorry Edmund. I never thought you had it in you to kiss her so soon, Peter was right, he had a bet going with Caspian that the two of you would kiss before his wedding, Caspian bet that it would be before his."

Esther started giggling as well and released him, Edmund felt a bit annoyed but not too angry as he thought this might happen. Turning to Lucy he said, "I thought he might do something like that, what was the bet?"

Lucy thought for a moment and said, "Caspian has to be Peters groomsman and you get the best mans job, If Caspian won, it would have been the other way around."

Edmund laughed and said, "too bad Caspian, I've been best man before, I know what to do. I'm so getting him back somehow for this though."

Lucy ran off giggling, so Edmund sighed and said to Esther, "sorry about this, I probably deserved it, I helped egg the crowd on, the day Caspian proposed to Susan. It's getting late, we'd better go inside."

Esther smiled at him and said, "It's alright Edmund, at least it wasn't Peter who found us. That would have been really embarrassing. He's nice but he can be a bit childish sometimes, this bet of his is one of those times. I hope marriage helps him mature as a person."

Edmund laughed softy and said, "your right there, you should have seen him while we were at home before returning to Narnia for the first time, he really was childish then."

Edmund offered her his hand, which she took, squeezing lovingly and they made their way inside.

When they got to great hall Peter and Verity got up and started clapping, Peter clapped him on the back as they all sat down and said, "alright, Ed! Lu just told us everything, well done, Romeo."

Edmund knew he should play along so he grinned slyly at his brother and said, "too bad Caspian, I heard about the bet. Can't you guys bet on something else other than my love life, what about a pool on how long til Susan gives us a nephew?"

Peter grinned back and said, "sorry, Ed, that one's too predictable. Su will be pregnant by the time she gets back, you wait. You're a hard man to predict, that's why we bet on you on Esther."

Edmund thought for a second and said, "alright, but don't do one for a proposal date yet, we've already had one wedding for Caspian and Susan, and yours is in a month. I think two royal weddings in one year is enough, don't you?"

Peter replied, "yes, besides, give yourself more time together with Esther before you move on to the next stage."

Edmund nodded and turned to his meal, realising his brother was right.

Two weeks later Caspian and Susan returned, Edmund knew he wanted to prank Caspian for betting on him and Esther, remembering Susan's threat from when he'd watched Caspian propose, he filled up a bucket with some water and put some ice in it. Hiding on a walkway overlooking the garden he could see Caspian and Susan engaged in some intense snogging, it looked like they were glued together. Edmund tried not to watch, but he couldn't help but notice the way Caspian worked and made a few mental notes of things he was doing that Susan seemed to be enjoying so he could use the skills on Esther. They'd been a bit more careful lately where they shared romantic moments but had been caught kissing a few times by Peter, Verity and Lucy. Seeing Caspian and Susan break apart, he waited until Caspian was underneath him and Susan wasn't in danger of getting hit as well as he didn't have any desire to incur her wrath. He tipped up the bucket, sending a wave of cold water straight onto Caspian. Drenched and spluttering he looked up and saw Edmund just as Susan started laughing loudly. Edmund smirked at him and said, "that's what you get for betting on me and Esther you sly prat, don't worry, I was trying not to watch too much, but seriously, get a room you two."

Susan looked at him and said, "what did he bet on to do with you and Esther?"

Edmund grinned at her and replied, "he and Peter were betting when I'd kiss Esther for the first time. Caspian bet that it would be before your wedding, Peter bet that it would be before his. Lucy told us when she walked in on us two weeks ago, thanks for the water idea Su, the look on your husbands face was priceless."

Susan looked shocked and gazed at her brother smiling, "I hope you were nice to her Edmund, well done, I was wondering when that would happen. I'll tell Lucy to not interrupt next time."

Caspian grinned slightly sheepishly at him and said, "well done Edmund, but did you have to drop water on me? That was cold, so now I have to be Peter's groomsman and you the best man?"

Edmund nodded and left feeling triumphant for getting even, he found Esther and told her what he'd done and she laughed loudly for a minute and then kissed him passionately.

Two weeks later they again gathered in the courtyard for a wedding, Caspian felt sympathy for Peter when he showed up for breakfast looking a bit ill. Edmund looked nervously at his brother as he realised that would be him in a few years time feeling sick before his wedding day, Caspian spoke reassuringly, "don't worry Peter, you'll be fine, remember what I did and don't forget your vows." Edmund though about it and added, "you'll be ok Pete, it's just Verity dressed in wedding finery, you've loved her for ages, every groom gets pre-wedding nerves, and she's probably as nervous as you right now. In a few years you can reassure me when I marry Esther."

They finished their breakfast and went to get changed into their formal outfits.

Edmund led his older brother outside and to the front, once again bypassing cheering royals and diplomats. He looked around at the entrance and saw Verity come out, just as the music began. Since she had no blood relatives and was a noblewoman, one of the elder council Lords gave her away as King Caspian was busy acting as groomsman. Edmund felt his jaw drop as he saw Esther coming from behind Verity with Susan and Lucy, as Susan had been appointed maid of honour while Lucy and Esther were bridesmaids. Edmund watched as Aslan once again oversaw the service.

"Do you Peter….. take Verity Amelia….?"

Peter and Verity exchanged vows and with a great roar, Aslan pronounced them man and wife, they stood up and kissed for a long moment much as Susan and Caspian had a little over a month ago. Peter and Edmund watched as the bouquet went flying, with no prior arrangement in place no one knew where it would go, which was why Edmund was just as surprised as everyone else then Esther caught it. Edmund grinned and mouthed softly, "wait a few years I think, we're both a little young,"

to her as Peter led Verity down to the dance floor.

As the other couples made their way on, Edmund moved forwards and took Esther by the arm and led her out, he took her hand and waist and began to move to the music.

Leaning in close Esther said, "where did you learn to dance so well Edmund?"

Edmund smiled triumphantly and replied, "I had to learn at school back home, and when I got to Narnia we had plenty of balls to attend. Lots of foreign royals trying to court Susan or Lucy, or hoping to marry off their daughters to Peter or myself by sending them to meet us."

Esther replied, "and none of them interested any of you?"

Edmund thought for a moment and replied, "we'd always been taught to marry for love by our parents, those royals were wanting to marry for political reasons, oh they were usually quite nice people, but none were the sort of person we could see ourselves marrying."

Esther beamed at him and they danced the day away, again the feasting, drinking and enjoyment lasted well into the night. Edmund watched as Peter and Verity made their way inside, he could just see Peter scoop his new bride up in his arms and carry her inside from his vantage point at the dining table. Smiling at Esther, he said, "another Pevensie married, that's half of us gone now, I always thought Peter would marry first, mainly because he's the eldest, but fate swept us here and Susan beat him to the altar."

Esther smiled back and replied, "no one can predict the future, except perhaps Aslan, he always told me that one day, I'd find myself at Cair Pavarel and I'd meet my husband there, he never said who or how, only that that's what would happen."

Edmund grinned and said, "well the part about you coming here has come true, as for the husband bit, I think we're a bit young to consider that. Two royal weddings in one year are enough, you got the bouquet though, so we're next according to superstition."

Esther replied, "what superstition?"

Edmund then said, "in my old world, at weddings the bride throws her bouquet into a crowd of unmarried ladies, mostly bridesmaids and younger guests. The one who catches it is supposedly the next one who'll get married."

Esther beamed at him, patted his hand and said, "your right, two royal weddings in one year is enough."

After watching the fireworks, the two of them went inside to their separate suites.

The next morning they woke up to find a lot of the castle with hangovers again. Peter and Verity weren't awake yet, but remembering Susan and Caspian Edmund wasn't surprised. He found Lucy and Esther sitting at the breakfast table talking to Susan and Caspian. All of them seemed well enough to Edmund with the exception of Susan who looked slightly queasy and wasn't eating much. Edmund sat down and greeted the others and blushing when Esther kissed his cheek. He began eating, swallowed and then turned to his elder sister and said, "are you okay Susan? you look a bit ill."

Susan looked over at him and said, "no I feel a bit queasy, maybe I ate something I shouldn't have."

Caspian looked nervously at his wife and said, "Trufflehunter's here somewhere, he's good at looking after people, maybe he knows something that might help, and I'll get a physician in later as well."

Susan nodded and Caspian went off, he came back a few minutes later with the concerned looking badger holding a glass of some herbal brew.

"Drink this your majesty, it should help. The physician will be along later."

Susan drank the herbal substance and seemed somewhat better after a few minutes, turning to the badger smiling she said, "thanks Trufflehunter, I probably ate or drank something I shouldn't have."

Peter and Verity came in and sat down, each looking very content with themselves. Turning to Susan Peter said, "you alright Su?"

Susan smiled at her brother and said, "I am now, I felt a bit funny when I got up, but Trufflehunter's herbs helped, I'm alright now, but the physician is coming later just in case."

Everyone nodded and turned to their breakfast, and Edmund felt very curious about his sisters illness and couldn't help but wonder if Peters prediction had come true.


	10. Seeds Of The Future

-1The return of the lady of the sun

Standard disclaimer: I am not C.S Lewis, I don't own anything except my invented characters and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

_Authors note: Merry Christmas to all of you for reading this and giving me such good reviews, at the moment I'm planning on one or two more chapters and an epilogue. Once I'm done with this story I am planning on working on a Harry Potter fanfic that will probably be so much better now I've learned as much as I have about good writing from doing this one. So if anyone's a Harry Potter fan look out for it in the near future. I might write another Narnia fanfic in the future if I can get the right inspiration from something, perhaps the next movie whenever they release it. In case your wondering, yes you and Edmund are right in your curiosity about Susan's illness from the end of the last chapter, the title of this one is a dead giveaway to that. I know I didn't give any warning about my trick with Esther in this chapter, but I couldn't resist, as the date I put in this chapter for her birthday actually matches mine, I don't know the Pevensies birthdays So I'll make them up when I need to, Peter's matches my own eldest brother who by coincidence actually has the same name._

_I'm sorry this chapter is short, but it was the hardest yet to write. The next chapter should be a bit longer as I switch to Lucy's point of view primarily._

Chapter 9: Seeds of the future

The physician, a Telmarine woman, came over to the palace later that afternoon to examine High Queen Susan. Everyone was busy in the palace library working on the plans for layout of the new city with the exception of King Peter and Queen Verity who had set off for Aphrodite's bay a few hours ago. Susan came into the room and called for Caspian who had his head bent over some plans for the central business district. He looked up and quickly joined his wife, who he noticed had a certain radiance about her. Susan led him into an empty room next door to the library, pulling him to her she quickly said, "the physician has finished with me and I'm not ill."

Caspian smiled at her and replied, "well that's a relief, Trufflehunter's herbs must have cured you of whatever it was this morning."

Susan put a finger to his lips to silence him while she spoke, "while I am not ill, I have some wonderful news. I'm a month pregnant, you're going to be a father Caspian!"

Caspian felt the world shift, as his ears rewrote his wife's words across his brain in white hot fire. His eyes widened in shock and he pulled Susan even closer as he gushed, "that's wonderful dear! A child, our future, and the future of the kingdom. We must tell the others, your brother and Queen Verity can wait. If we send word now they'll come straight back, they ought to enjoy their honeymoon just as we did."

Susan replied, "your right, they deserve their holiday, after all they've been through, it will do them well, knowing Peter, this little one will have a cousin to play with fairly soon after he or she is born."

Caspian laughed and moved one hand from Susan's back to her stomach, thinking of what to say he decided on, "well that will help, our child will have company his or her own age, and they can keep an eye on each other as they grow up. Also it'll be good as you and Queen Verity will be able to help each other prepare for the birth."

Susan kissed him and replied, "yes, that will be helpful, now come on. Let's go tell the others, we can write a statement to the town criers while we're telling them."

Caspian took her hand and led her to the library. The others were still scribbling away at their maps, drawing in locations for various things. They heard Lucy say, "should we put a school there? It's a bit far from the residential district for that island. Why not move it closer and put something else on that plot, maybe a barracks?"

So she made a few marks on the page and kept looking at the latest plans.

Caspian cleared his throat to draw attention to himself and Susan and the others put their writing material down and looked up. Susan began speaking, "we have some good news."

Everyone drew a breath as they realised what was about to be said, sure enough Caspian continued, "Susan and I are expecting our first child in March next year."

Everyone let out a cry of joy and converged on them, Edmund walked over to Susan and said, "Congratulations Su, we knew this would happen sooner or later, you two will be great parents. Any kid of yours would be a dangerous opponent in a fight, with your skill at archery and Caspian's with a sword."

He hugged his elder sister tightly and she said, " I hope he or she won't solve everything by fighting, but thanks Ed."

Edmund released her and Lucy came over, throwing her arms around Susan she gushed, "Congratulations, I didn't think I'd be getting a niece so soon Susan."

They all laughed and Edmund said, "niece or nephew Lu, we won't know until it's born and as long as it's healthy does it really matter?"

They all shook their heads and Susan said, "he's right Lucy, and besides, there's four of us and two of us are married already, at least one of us ought to have a daughter as one of our children."

They laughed again and Lucy released her sister to Esther, who hurried over and congratulated Susan as well. They all worked on a proclamation for the town criers who began to pass the word to the kingdom.

Over the next few weeks, letters of congratulations were coming in from the various foreign royal houses and the Lords of the council, a lot of them sent gifts for the baby as well, even Aslan had shown up to offer his congratulations. The planning work on New Venice was going well and construction teams from all over the kingdom were beginning to work at constructing the new capital city following a ceremonial turning of the first sod by Caspian and Susan.

Susan began to suffer the full effects of morning sickness but Trufflehunter's herbs helped her to cope with it so she could carry on her royal duties. Peter and Verity arrived back a month later, sun tanned and feeling very refreshed and ready to help with the planning. They were overjoyed to hear the news of Susan's pregnancy and agreed with Caspian completely when he told them why they hadn't sent word. Susan's prediction proved correct when one morning a few weeks later Verity felt ill and summoned the physician finding out that she was pregnant as well and due a little over a month after Susan.

New Venice grew by the day as more and more buildings, roads and bridges sprung up bringing in the first residents and workers. What were once bare islands quickly became a beautiful city with both Narnians and Telmarines making up it's population.

One of the youngest council Lords, The son of the late lord Anvard took up the post of mayor moving himself and his family into the new city to the delight of the locals.

Both the elder Queens began to show the signs of pregnancy over the next few months much to the joy of their respective husbands. Peter remarked on how happy it made him feel that he was going to become first an Uncle and then a dad in the space of a month. One afternoon in mid December he was sitting in a drawing room with Verity together working on more city plans, she turned to him and said, "why didn't you tell anyone about this land after the first time you left it? It really has been the makings of you."

Peter thought for a second and then said, "no one would have believed us, except Professor Kirke, the only physical evidence any of us had were a few battle scars."

Verity thought for a moment and said, "yes, but the change it inspired in the four of you was enormous, anyone who knew you before then, especially your parents must have seen it."

Peter moved closer to his wife and placed his hand on her stomach, where a small bump was beginning to show and replied, "well yes, but they'd say it was just the effect of the war and growing up, but still, we're here, and now we'll be parents, as well as Aunt and Uncle."

She laughed, placed her own hand on top of Peter's and said.

"It feels even better on the inside. I love you Peter, I'm glad I came here, it's a shame our child will never see his or her grandparents, but at least he or she will have lots of Cousins as well as Aunts and Uncles."

Peter squeezed Verity's hand and said, "I love you too dear, we don't know that our kids won't see England, Aslan said we couldn't go back, but he never said our kids couldn't visit. Maybe we could ask him to let them visit their grandparents occasionally once they've grown up a little."

Verity then replied, "That might be dangerous with the time flow difference, but that could work, they couldn't stay too long though or once they got back they might find themselves as orphans."

Peter nodded and they finished their plans and went off for dinner, the snow beginning to fall outside as Christmas was coming close.

Christmas day dawned and the Kings and Queens awoke to a white Christmas, Cair Pavarel and it's grounds were blanketed in snow, Peter got up and went down into the great hall where a spectacular Christmas tree had been set up. He found the others all waiting for him sitting around it with the exception of Edmund and Esther, Turning to Susan he asked, "where's Ed, Susan?"

Susan smiled softly and replied, "Esther caught him under the bunch of mistletoe you stuck up yesterday, I'm guessing he's told her what it means and I suppose their still out there."

Peter grinned and said, "who would have thought it? Give them five minutes and I'll go get them."

However Edmund came in leading Esther by the hand, pulled chairs for them both and said, "no need Peter we're here, merry Christmas."

Peter replied, "merry Christmas you two, now you've finished with the mistletoe we can start with the gifts."

Everyone began sorting through the gifts under the tree and began handing them around, they spent a fun morning exchanging presents, Peter and Verity as well as Caspian and Susan got a lot of gifts for their children among their presents including clothes and toys, the others all received all sorts of gifts such as clothing and jewellery. Edmund felt happy with Esther's reaction when she unwrapped the pearl earrings he'd bought for her from a new jewellers shop in the city, he wasn't an expert on buying presents for women other than his sisters and had asked Peter for advice which he'd been only too happy to give. The real surprise came when Lucy unwrapped a ruby necklace from the Anvard family, Caspian seemed almost as surprised as Lucy as he told them all about how he'd had the previous Lord Anvard beheaded for treason. Lucy said to the others, "perhaps they want to let go of their past and make a new start, after all the new Lord took the mayors job, why send me a present as well as Caspian though? Why not Peter, Susan or Edmund?"

Caspian thought for a second and remembered something that might be connected, "I know the mayor has a younger brother, he'd be about your age Lucy, maybe he sent it, I know he's a fan of the old Narnian tales of the golden age, I bought him a copy once as a birthday present since I met him a few times. Would have been after you and the others left after the revolution, he must be a fan of yours."

Lucy then said, "well that's very nice of him to do that. I must write him a thank you letter for this, it's lovely."

They all shrugged and kept opening gifts before moving off for Christmas lunch, Lucy putting the necklace on at once, as it went well with her hair and clothes.

The next day was Esther's sixteenth birthday, so they held a small party for her. They mostly invited the council Lords, Lucy passing a thank you note to Lord Anvard to give to his brother when she saw him. Among Esther's birthday gifts Edmund gave her a pearl necklace to match the earrings he'd given her for Christmas and she absolutely loved them thanking him both verbally while everyone was looking and non verbally when they weren't. Professor Cornelius gave her several books on stars and the various theories about them, which she found very interesting as she had never seen any human literature on stars.

By January Susan and Verity both began to show a visible bulge, Susan was eight months pregnant and Verity was seven months. Neither Peter or Caspian had known how much pregnancy would change their wives but both were overjoyed at the prospect of becoming fathers despite mood swings and food cravings having replaced morning sickness. Peter had turned 19 on the 8th of January and felt a little disappointed that his child didn't see the party, before being reminded that he or she would see a lot of parties for Peter so there was no point in worrying about this one.

February came and Susan began to worry about becoming a mother and Caspian tried his best to calm her, they had all that they'd need made and a nursery had been prepared next door to their room.

Caspian sat with her in their room one night, a hand on her stomach feeling the baby kick. She turned and said, "I really hope I'm ready, what if I make a mistake and ruin our child's life."

Caspian smiled reassuringly and replied, "you won't, you've always been the one with the motherly instinct with your brothers and sister. You've had to look after them a lot, I think that since you did that so well for so long you'll be a great mother. Anyway, I'm sure every new mother feels the same way before their child is born."

Susan smiled slightly and said, "I know, I'm just nervous, our child will be the heir to the throne. Being parents is hard enough in normal families, but royalty have the added challenge of educating their children to rule the kingdom well."

Caspian remembered his own upbringing and said, "Professor Cornelius always helped to teach me, he was the closest I had to a father after my father died, our child will not only have us and him, but his aunts and uncles, they'll all help teach him or her to rule well."

Susan replied, "I know they will, I'm still nervous though."

Caspian then said, "I am too, every set of new parents surely feels the same way, I bet Peter and Verity are feeling just as nervous."

Susan nodded and the two of them got into bed, another day had passed, It would be only another month and the heir would be born, hopefully into a future of peace and prosperity made possible by their efforts, the seeds of the future had been sown and now time would come to reap the harvest and bring forth the future.


	11. The Redemption

-1The return of the lady of the sun

Standard disclaimer: I am not C.S Lewis, I don't own anything except my invented characters and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

_Authors note: I'm so sorry about the long wait for an update, but I had a massive case of writers block and then had to sort out arrangements for this semester at University. I'll try and conclude this story in a good way to satisfy all of the regular readers so I can start to work on my Harry Potter story. I'm sorry the last chapter was so short, but hopefully this one will make up for it. I don't know the name of the royal house so I'm just using Narnia as the surname, I hope you like the names I chose for Peter and Verity and Susan and Caspian's first born children. Since this story is nearly finished I hope you like the way I begin to pair off Lucy, I don't think I'll actually write her wedding, but I will match her up as part of my epilogue which will be the next chapter. _

Chapter 10: The Redemption and The Dawn Of The Future

On the morning of March the 17th Lucy woke up early, got dressed and went down to breakfast. She intended to go visit the Anvard's to see the Lords younger bother. She intended to visit him to thank him for the necklace personally, ever since she had sent a note but hadn't had a chance as paperwork had kept the entire Royal family busy lately, however, shortly afterwards as she was walking towards the palace gates, one of Susan's maids came up to her. The maid curtsied and said.

"I'm sorry to disturb you your majesty but I'm afraid your sister has gone into labour. She asked me to tell you and your brothers, King Caspian is with her already."

Lucy looked shocked and put her hands to her mouth, dropping them to her side after a moment she said.

"Don't be sorry, thank you for telling me, I'd never have forgiven myself if I'd missed this, now hurry and get Edmund and Peter."

The maid curtsied again and ran off, Lucy turned and ran as fast as she could and arrived outside her sisters room after a few minutes, she knocked on the door and opened it, Susan was laying down on her bed with the midwife and her assistants around her and a very worried looking Caspian sitting next to her and holding her hand. Lucy walked up and said.

"Are you okay Su? I just heard."

Susan turned to her sister and said, "I'm as good as I can be at the moment, the midwife says it'll be a few more hours, but I'm doing well enough."

Her faced took on a pained expression and she squeezed Caspian's hand, the King winced in pain, after a few moments Susan's face relaxed and she released Caspian, who rubbed his hand. Edmund, Esther, Peter and Verity came in at this point, and drew up chairs, they all looked sympathetically at Susan, with the exception of Verity who looked frightened as it would be her turn in a months time. Peter looked at Susan and said, " I hope you and our new Crown Prince come through all right Su."

Susan looked irritably at him and said, "Prince or Princess Peter, we won't know which until it's born, which can't come soon enough."

Edmund came closer and said "do we really care what it is, as long as it and Susan are healthy in the end, although I am hoping for a nephew. Still no pressure Su."

Susan and Esther both smiled at him, the midwife shooed them all away as she went to check on Susan. They all went out into the hall and had chairs brought up for them to sit on while they waited. They spoke in worried terms wincing every time they heard Susan cry out in pain. Caspian looked about ready to pass out with worry as he sat and occasionally got up and paced the hall. Three hours after they had been evicted by the midwife they all heard the cry of a baby and they all sighed in relief. Caspian got up and went inside, after a few moments he came out with a broad smile on his face and he said.

"It's a boy! We've named him Rillian David Narnia, he's perfectly healthy as is Susan."

They all go up and hugged Caspian before going inside the room, they found Susan sitting up in bed holding her newborn son who had been cleaned up and wrapped in a blue blanket, as far as they could see he had a tuft of dark curly hair. They all sat down beside the bed and let out a collective awww at the sight. Verity looked over and said.

"He looks a lot like his father, so he'll be handsome enough, and if he takes your intelligence he'll make a good King one of these days."

They all nodded in agreement, Lucy got out her cordial and moved up to her sister, undoing the cap she said, "If childbirth is as bad as what it's made out to be you must be really sore, not to mention exhausted, so here, have some of this, it might help."

Susan turned her head to look at Lucy and said, "thanks, I feel like I've been run over by a lorry and your right, I am exhausted."

So Lucy gave Susan a drop of her cordial which made Susan feel much better, they stayed until the midwife told them that both mother and child needed rest. Lucy made her way out of the castle and told a town crier the news as she left, she made her way through the streets as the bells of the castle began to toll and the town crier shouted the news into the afternoon sky. Lucy made her way through the streets of New Venice towards the mayors house, however just as she neared it an arrow came out of nowhere and missed her by inches and striking a fence with an ominous thud. Lucy screamed and looked around for her attacker and saw a man dressed in black, he appeared to have no face, but she realised his head has hooded and his face masked. The man ran toward her with a sword raised shouting.

"FOR THE BLOOD OF SOPASTION!"

Lucy struggled to get a hand on her dagger. But almost as suddenly as the Assassin appeared, a knife came whirring from her right, striking the man right between his eyes killing him instantly, the sword flew from the Assassins hands as he fell and flew through the air towards her, and a young man dived in front of her, it nicked him in the arm but then clattered to the ground. Lucy ran forwards and said.

"Are you okay? I owe you my life their, here let me fix that arm."

She reached down and took her bottle from the pouch on her belt and opened it, she turned to face her rescuer and realised that he didn't look much older than her, 15 at the oldest. He had dark curly hair and brown eyes. In fact in her eyes he looked a lot like a younger Caspian, she looked at him and said, "open your mouth."

He did so, so she gave him a drop of cordial which instantly healed the cut left by the Assassins sword, the stranger said, "are you alright your majesty, I'm Caspian Anvard, Lord Anvard is my elder brother."

Lucy realised that this man was the very person she was looking for and replied, "Thank you Caspian, you are handy. I was actually on my way to visit you to thank you for the necklace you sent me. Now you've saved my life, I'm afraid I don't have anything to reward you with here with me, but I'll see to it that you are rewarded. I don't feel like doing anything right now can you take me back to the palace?"

Caspian bowed and said, "of course my Queen, it would be an honour. I have always been a fan of yours, ever since I read the old tales. King Caspian gave me a copy, he's always been a bit of a mentor. My dad named me after his father Caspian IX. I read about how you hit a bullseye with your dagger while you and High Queen Susan were practising before the final battle against the witch, that sounded like a cool trick so I taught myself how to do it, I never thought I'd have to actually use it though."

Lucy beamed at him and said, "I'm glad you did, lets go."

They made their way through the streets back towards the palace, Lucy told a passing watchman about the dead Assassin and what had happened. They reached the palace a short while later, Lucy led the way inside and turned to Caspian, "I'm going to tell the High King what you've done, you wait here, I'll see if I can find something to reward you with as well."

She left and made her way up to Susan and Caspian's bedchamber, sure enough Caspian was there holding his newborn son while Susan was asleep, Caspian turned to Lucy and said, "are you alright Lucy, you look a little shook up."

Lucy shook her head and said, "no I'm not alright, a hired Assassin tried to kill me when I went out to go thank Lord Anvard's brother for the necklace. Luckily for me Caspian Anvard himself showed up and killed the Assassin, he then brought me back here."

Caspian's eyes widened and he said, "WHAT! Is he still here? That boy is getting a knighthood, right now. I know he's looking for a position. I think a spot in the Royal guards as your personal guard would be a fine reward, I will initiate an enquiry as to the identity of the would-be Assassin."

Susan woke up immediately and reached for her bow as she heard her husbands words, turning to Lucy she said, "Someone tried to kill you Lucy, who?"

Caspian saw that his wife was awake and said, "don't worry dear, their dead now, Lord Anvard's little brother killed him, I'm going to give him a Knighthood for this. I think it was a hired Assassin, must have been a contingency plan of the rebels, I'm guessing they placed a contract with one of the Assassins Guilds in either Ettinsmoor or Serement. Sleep now, Lucy is fine."

Lucy turned to Susan and said, "I'm okay Susan, you just concentrate on recovering and looking after little Rillian."

She made faces at the little Prince who cooed happily at her from his fathers arms, he passed him to Susan who immediate began fussing over him. They left Susan and made their way back to Caspian Anvard who was still waiting in the entrance hall. King Caspian bade the young man to kneel, turning to Lucy he said, "you do the honours Lucy, here take my sword."

King Caspian passed over his sword, just as the other Kings and Queens came in, it seemed that Susan had summoned her maid to get them, Lucy lifted the sword and tapped Caspian twice, once on each shoulder with the flat of the blade and said.

"Rise, Sir Caspian the redeemer, Knight of Narnia."

He did so and Lucy handed back King Caspian's sword. They all congratulated the new Knight for his courage, Peter and Edmund gave each other a knowing look as they could sense the possibilities of the future. Lucy took the new Sir Caspian by his arm and led him away from the others, taking him to a courtyard she turned and said,

"I said I'd reward you. King Caspian insisted on having you Knighted, I'm also offering you a position. After today I think I'll be needing my own personal bodyguard. I've heard you're looking for a career, would the Royal guard be okay?"

Caspian looked stunned, he didn't know what to expect when he saved the Queen, he only thought of it as civic duty and a chance to further redeem the Anvard family, but he looked at the young Queen who was the most beautiful girl he'd ever met and realised his opportunity and said.

"It will be an honour my Queen, I'm afraid I'm not that great a swordsman but I'll do my best to learn."

Lucy beamed at him, leaned forward and kissed his cheek and said, "thank you, now as handsome as you are, you'll need a uniform, so go find the captain of the guard and ask for an appointment with the quartermaster."

Caspian felt his face burn and said, "at once your majesty."

One month later, the Royal family again awaited a new member with anticipation. Peter was pale and looked like he was going to faint, while all the others were doing their best to reassure him, Susan had Rillian on her knee, she had recovered well thanks to a few doses of Lucy's cordial and was almost back to her pre-baby body. Verity had gone into labour during the night and had been in labour for the past five hours, however just as the dawn rose and the suns rays shone through the window illuminating the group outside the room the cry of a baby was once again heard. Peter had fainted but was quickly brought round by Lucy and Sir Caspian and went inside, after a month sir Caspian looked much more like a soldier, he still wasn't as good as the Kings in battle but gave them a formidable challenge whenever they'd asked him to train with them in the castle swordsmanship training gym. Peter came out of the room grinning and said, "It's a girl, we've named her Elizabeth Helen Narnia."

They went inside to find Verity holding a small bundle wrapped in a pink blanket, Princess Elizabeth had her mothers red hair, and all looked adoringly at the small girl. Susan held Rillian up so he could see his new cousin, and he was very interested, reaching out a small hand to her. Everyone saw this and immediately smiled at the sight, Lucy one again opened her cordial bottle and gave a drop to Verity, Edmund came over and said.

"well done Verity, now we've got a Prince and a Princess, Rillian will be able to keep an eye on her and kill any boy who even thinks about snogging her."

They all laughed and Susan said, "ease up Ed, she's only just been born. We've got awhile to wait before we worry about foreign Princes trying anything stupid."

Esther then said, "true, but time moves fast, the future has dawned today, time can change much. Look at the Anvard's, you used to mistrust them after the late Lord sided with Sopastion, now the new ones the mayor and Caspian's Lucy's personal guard and one of our most trusted men. It won't be long and Elizabeth will be a graceful Princess with every Prince in the world trying their luck to court her."

No one replied, their was no need, all sensed the truth in her words just as they could see the new light of dawn shining through the open window.

Later that day, scores messages bearing congratulations began to pour in to the palace, all of the foreign ambassadors visited bearing gifts, and a few even tried to set up marriage contracts with young Princes from their countries. All the gifts were accepted politely, and the ambassadors with contract offers were politely declined, a package arrived for Edmund over breakfast, he opened it and grinned in satisfaction as he gazed at the diamond engagement ring he'd had made. He made to put it away but wasn't fast enough as Peter saw it and said.

"Blimey Ed! Are you going to do what I think you're going to do?"

Edmund grinned and replied, "yes I am, It's been long enough since your wedding Pete, and I think it's about time, we love each other and we both know it's only a matter of timing."

Peter nodded and said, "you go get her Romeo."

Edmund finished his breakfast, and waited until he had a chance, he checked that no one else was around as he didn't want Susan claiming payback after what he'd done to Caspian and her, finding Esther alone in the garden he walked up to her the box clutched in his hand, she smiled at him and said.

"You look nervous Edmund, why? Am I still so ethereal to you that I give that affect."

Edmund laughed nervously and replied, "no Esther, every man gets nervous when the time come to do what I'm about to do."

Esther seemed puzzled for a moment, but noticed that Edmund had one hand behind his back, her eyes widened and she beamed at him and said.

"don't bother Edmund, of course I will, you have no need to ask."

She threw herself into his arms and kissed him hard, once they drew away for air, Edmund took her left hand and placed the ring on her finger, however at this moment history repeated itself and Lucy came up with Sir Caspian just behind her, she took one look at the ring on Esther's finger, put her hands to her mouth in shock, and once she had recovered she ran forwards and hugged them both squealing in delight.

"Oh well done Ed, Congratulations!"

Caspian moved forwards and said, "congratulations your majesty, sorry to interrupt. If I wasn't leaving my post by doing so I'd go inform the town criers myself."

Lucy turned to her Knight and said, "don't worry about me Caspian, go right ahead and do it, no-ones going to kill me in here, King Caspian completed his Inquiry the other day anyway, it was a contract for all of us placed with the Ettinsmoor Assassins Guild by the rebel leaders as a contingency in case they lost the war, which that lone Assassin took on, he's dead, so for now we're safe."

Sir Caspian nodded and left, a few minutes later the castle bells told for the second time that day as the town criers announced the engagement, just as the foreign diplomats were summoned back for a combined feast celebrating Princess Elizabeth's birth, and the engagement of Kind Edmund and Lady Esther. Time had changed again and it looked to be moving towards a bright future of promise.


End file.
